First win of the season for Aston Villa
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Bologna Captain John McGinn struck the decisive blow as a nervous Aston Villa scraped their first win of the season with a narrow victory over Bologna. Author | Jay Dean Stadium | Villa Park Players and fans celebrate Unai Emery’s side opened their Europa League campaign with three points but offered little to suggest their stuttering start is behind them. Villa looked tentative throughout and Ollie Watkins squandered the chance to ease the tension when his second-half penalty was saved. The win at least halted a frustrating run after a turbulent week off the pitch, with the president of football operations Monchi, departing and Roberto Olabe arriving from Real Sociedad as his replacement. McGinn’s early strike from the edge of the box, his second goal against Bologna after scoring against them in last season’s Champions League, proved enough. Before that Evann Guessand had already tested Lukasz Skorupski, who also denied the lively Donyell Malen as Villa pressed...