Football
Tielemans, Ramsey and Onana On Target As Aston Villa Triumph 3-0 On Champions League Return
Cai is a news and features writer that specialises in football, but has experience covering a variety of other sports, including darts, basketball, American football, MMA, boxing and more. He holds a degree in Football Journalism (BA Hons) from the University of Derby, and worked with Nottingham Forest FC and Burton Albion FC throughout his studies. Cai also has experience working in social media with the Football Association of Wales, where he worked on a freelance basis, and has also been an accredited writer in the JD Cymru Premier for both Y Clwb Pêl-Droed and welshfootie since the 2019/20 season.
Get to know Cai Parry betterPublished17 Sep 2024
Watch the highlights as Aston Villa marked their return to Europe’s premier competition in style, overcoming Swiss champions Young Boys 3-0 in their opening game of the 2024/25 Champions League campaign.
Playing among Europe’s elite for the first time in 41 years, Aston Villa certainly didn’t look out of place on their return to the Champions League, as the former European Cup winners comfortably dispatched Swiss champions Young Boys 3-0 at the Wankdorf Stadion.
Despite the comfortable scoreline, it was the hosts that looked likelier to score in the opening 20 minutes, but once Unai Emery’s side got a foothold in the game, there was simply no way back for the Bern-based outfit.
A clever set-piece routine saw John McGinn swing the ball past the Young Boys defenders from a corner, which Youri Tielemans met and struck home into the bottom corner to send the Villans on their way.
11 minutes later, Jacob Ramsey doubled the advantage, turning home into an empty net after Ollie Watkins was taken out by the goalkeeper for what would’ve certainly been a penalty.
Watkins himself added a third just before half time, however his goal was disallowed as the ball had struck his hand before he’d slotted home past the hosts’ captain David von Ballmoos.
The second period saw another one of Villa’s goals disallowed due to an Amadou Onana handball, but the Belgian made up for it in the 86th minute as he powerfully struck home the visitors’ third to secure all three points.
WATCH: Young Boys 0-3 Aston Villa Champions League Highlights
Victory for Villa puts them in a strong position going forward in the competition, with a further seven fixtures to play until the end of January. Their next tie is perhaps their toughest of the lot, as they welcome Bayern Munich to Villa Park at the start of October.
After that, their fixtures include home ties against Bologna, Juventus and Celtic, as well as away trips to Club Brugge, RB Leipzig and AS Monaco.
Before any of that though, Emery and his men face a trip to Wolverhampton to take on Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, before entertaining League Two side Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup three days later.
Leading football betting sites in the UK have made Villa clear favourites for both of these ties, with odds of 4/7 on offer for them to beat Wolves and odds of 3/10 to beat Wycombe.