Aston Villa could be forgiven for printing out the table, framing it and nailing it to the wall. The club who conquered the continent in 1982 have rarely hinted at scaling such heights since. Yet a chant broke out in the Holte End after Jhon Duran had doubled their lead and as Real Madrid cancelled out and wiped away Borussia Dortmund’s advantage in the Bernabeu. “We are top of the league,” they chanted. They are, and the league in question is the Champions League.
Villa have had plenty of proof of the progress they have made under Unai Emery. Yet as the Spaniard approaches the second anniversary of his appointment, the standings provide some of the most startling. In danger of relegation from the Premier League when Emery arrived, the club from the Second City are first in Europe now, at the summit of a 36-team division. It may only be for 24 hours but it is a stunning sight.
Bologna were beaten, as Young Boys Bern and Bayern Munich had been before them. Life among the European elite is suiting Villa: with three wins from three, they have made light of a four-decade absence. John McGinn and Duran were symbolic scorers in their different ways, the player who dragged them out of the Football League, the scourge of Bayern.
If Bayern was a spectacular, seminal occasion at Villa Park, Bologna’s visit was given extra significance by results around the continent. They left Villa in splendid isolation on nine points: in itself, that should already be enough for a play-off place but Emery’s sights are set far higher. A manager who has allowed Villa to dream saw a second-half improvement bring a reward. Spaghetti Junction 2 Spaghetti Bolognese 0.
Admittedly, an element of fortune was required to break the deadlock. Villa have been set-piece specialists. If their opener was not quite how Austin McPhee planned it, it nevertheless proved effective. McGinn’s free kick was curling and menacing but a cross. Instead, it evaded a host of bodies in the box and the defiant goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski to nestle in the net.
Injury had deprived the Scot of a place against Bayern. Captaining Villa at home in the Champions League for the first time, a player who joined them in the Championship, who delivered the winner in the play-off final that restored them to the top flight, capped his personal journey.
Victory was secured by a more recent arrival. Duran has five goals as a replacement this season. His only previous start had come against Wycombe Wanderers. But Emery rotated and was rewarded even if Duran, who often has an explosiveness after coming on, this time felt destructive when he went off.
But when Bologna were strangely slow to close Morgan Rogers down, they allowed him to cross and Duran to slide in and score. It was his final touch, with Ollie Watkins waiting to come on. The timing may have been fortunate for Villa. The goal did not pacify the scorer. Duran punched the chair in frustration when he went off but the destroyer of Bayern had a second Champions League goal to his name. His contribution had been more mixed: the supersub supreme felt less dynamic as a starter but he ended with a goal nonetheless.
Villa had displayed urgency in the first half, if not quite the precision required. Skorupski denied Duran and McGinn, the eventual scorers, from a header and a shot respectively. Rogers had two chances in as many minutes on the stroke of half-time, arrowing one shot fractionally wide, directing another too close to the goalkeeper. Then Emery intervened: this time Duran was not the impact sub, but the introduction of Ross Barkley at the break helped Villa assume a dominance.
Bologna’s draw specialists had spent the first half suggesting they could share the points again. Instead, overwhelmed in the second, the remain rooted on a solitary win under new manager Vincenzo Italiano, with a second successive Champions League reverse in England.
They have still not scored in the competition; not since their lone foray into the European Cup in the 1960s. They threatened when Emi Martinez followed his heroics against Bayern Munich with another fine save in front of the Holte End, denying Thijs Dallinga when the summer signing was through on goal. It probably met with approval from one of Italy’s greatest goalkeepers: the watching Gianluca Pagliuca is an unlikely but avid Villa fan.
Bologna could reflect on the moment, a few minutes before McGinn scored, when Stefan Posch angled a shot just wide while, when Martinez was beaten in the final minutes, captain Sam Beukema’s header rebounded back off the post. But Villa still have not conceded in the European Cup since Michel Platini scored for Juventus in 1983. Then Villa were champions of Europe. And now, surreally, Villa are top of the Champions League.
