Victory for Aston Villa in Champions League debut

Aston Villa beat Young Boys in Switzerland 3-0.

Author: Molly HookingsPublished 18th Sep 2024
Last updated 18th Sep 2024

Aston Villa marked their Champions League debut with a 3-0 victory over Young Boys in Switzerland.

Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey, and Amadou Onana scored the goals.

Villa boss Unai Emery dedicated the win to club legend, Gary Shaw, who died earlier this week.

Shaw passed away on the eve of the match and was a major part of Villa's European Cup triumph in 1982. He played in the club's last outing in the continent's top competition 42 years ago.

Emery said: “First of all, this victory is for Gary Shaw,” he said.

“We can follow in the Champions League, winning like they 1982 team finished and we want to celebrate this victory and dedicate it to Gary Shaw and the Aston Villa family.

“It’s always difficult away and our experiences last year show it. We played focussing very well in 90 minutes and being consistent, respecting them.

“They started pushing in the first 15 minutes. We defended well and were progressively adapting to the pitch.

“We imposed our capacity to beat them, always respecting them.”

After Tielemans and Ramsey had already scored, Ollie Watkins had a third ruled out for handball following a VAR review.

The visitors were denied once more when Jhon Duran's strike was also disallowed by VAR.

But the third goal came in in the 86th minute when Amadou Onana put the seal on all three points.

The Villans next play Bayern Munich in the Champions League at home on 2 October.

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