An hour before kick-off the few hundred Aston Villa supporters admiring the view from their seats cheered the first rendition of the Champions League anthem over the speakers and their mood was similarly jubilant after watching their team ruthlessly dispatch the Swiss champions on their first foreign assignment at this level for 41 years.
It was fitting that Jacob Ramsey, who joined Villa’s academy at six years old, got on the scoresheet as the travelling supporters sang the name of the late 1982 European Cup winner Gary Shaw, another homegrown hero and the youngest member of that revered team, from start to finish. Ramsey’s strike, scored in comical circumstances, was bookended by fine strikes from the Belgium pair Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana, the latter registering his third goal since a £50m summer move from Everton.
The game was anything but uneventful with the substitute Jhon Durán booked for inciting the most ardent Young Boys supporters stationed behind one end of this stadium after thinking he extended his impressive goalscoring run to make it 3-0 late on. Durán rippled the net with a first-time finish and promptly riled the home fans by jumping on to the digital advertising hoardings and yelling with joy. The locals took a dim view of his antics and the striker was dismayed if not embarrassed when his goal was ruled out a couple of minutes later. It was the second of two disallowed Villa goals for handball, the first belonging to Ollie Watkins. Onana would add a third in style, his rasping strike nestling inside a post from 25 yards.
On the eve of the game, Tielemans said he felt the buzz among Villa supporters, so he was well versed on how his goal would have been received from Berne to Birmingham and beyond. Lucas Digne rolled a corner to John McGinn, whose curling cross picked out an isolated Tielemans. The midfielder brought the ball under his spell before thudding a diagonal shot into the far corner. Villa’s set-piece coach, Austin MacPhee, roared with delight on the edge of the technical area, marvelling at the execution of a move crafted back at Bodymoor Heath. Villa had barely threatened until that point, aside from McGinn thrashing a chance wide minutes earlier and it was the Villa goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez, who made the first meaningful save a dozen minutes in, denying Ebrima Colley before Filip Ugrinic sent another effort wide. Villa were slow to settle with the zip of the synthetic surface. Ramsey changed his boots after 18 minutes. Morgan Rogers looked down at his stud plates in frustration and Pau Torres overcooked a simple pass.
Tielemans’s strike gave Villa a leg-up and from there they dominated. Rogers freed Watkins but the Villa striker, with yellow shirts breathing down his neck, screwed a scruffy shot wide. Then Cheikh Niasse manhandled a rampaging Onana, earning a booking in the process. If Villa’s first was a slick training-ground move, the second stemmed was a tragicomedy from a Young Boys perspective. Banhie Zoukrou cleared Rogers’s pass meant for Watkins but Mohamed Ali Camara dawdled in the box and then passed the ball back to his goalkeeper, David von Ballmoos, who failed to spy Watkins in his peripheral vision and promptly wiped him out.
It would have been a certain penalty but Ramsey picked up the pieces, taking a touch before slotting in Villa’s second. It was the kind of goal that made it easy to understand why Young Boys are yet to win in the league this season. The travelling support proudly chanted Shaw’s name that little bit louder. Villa’s players wore black armbands to honour their former forward. “When he gets the ball he’s bound to score, Gary, Gary Shaw,” they sang on repeat.
Watkins wheeled away in celebration under the impression he had made it 3-0 on 43 minutes but his goal was disallowed for a bizarre handball decision. It was almost as if the French video assistant referee, Willy Delajod, had sympathy for Young Boys, who flipped from giving Villa a rough ride to a meek surrender in double-quick time. Watkins’s initial effort on the spin was blocked by Zoukrou but his second effort flew high into the net, supposedly with a helping hand.
The second half was in danger of passing without much note. Diego Carlos replaced Lamare Bogarde at the interval, Emery deciding to shift Ezri Konsa to right-back. Durán then replaced Watkins on the hour, the latter noticeably unhappy at being withdrawn. Ramsey saw a stinging shot pushed over by Von Ballmoos and up the other end Silvère Ganvoula forced Martínez into a two-handed but ultimately comfortable stop.
Then for the real drama, Durán sweeping home at the end of a slick move only for another Villa goal to be chalked off for handball. The referee, Georgi Kabakov, initially waved play on when Onana handled on halfway but, after a VAR check, he later ruled the goal out. Only after Durán made a brainless decision to celebrate wildly in front of a teeming Young Boys end. Onana eventually made it 3-0 with a low strike from distance.
