Given what had gone before, Unai Emery stressed afterwards, this was a significant victory and a deeply satisfying takeaway for Aston Villa.
In meetings with his squad, he referenced how none of the six Premier League teams in the Champions League last 16 had triumphed this week and as many as four of them may have suffered irrecoverable damage. Then there were the memories of Villa coming here two years ago, when they almost came unstuck in the Conference League quarter-finals, when Emiliano Martínez reannounced himself as public enemy No 1 and made two penalty shootout saves.
