Villa maintain perfect Conference League home record with Lille win
Lille received an early setback in their first quarter-final appearance in UEFA competition, conceding the opening goal inside 15 minutes at Villa Park.
An unmarked Ollie Watkins crept in at the far post to head home from John McGinn’s deep corner to register his 25th goal of the season.
After being put on the back foot, the French side went close to restoring parity midway through the first half when Edon Zhegrova latched onto Nabil Bentaleb’s long-range pass, only to see his effort smothered by Emiliano Martínez.
The Villa goalkeeper was required to make two more crucial stops before the break, prevailing in one-on-one situations against Bafodé Diakité and Lille’s main marksman Jonathan David.
After recharging their batteries during the interval, Unai Emery’s side made a purposeful start to the second period, as Lucas Chevalier was forced to make a strong save to prevent Leon Bailey from finding the net.
However, there was nothing the Lille shot-stopper could do to stop John McGinn from doubling Villa’s advantage before the hour mark. A short corner was worked towards the edge of the box, where McGinn was waiting to curl a low shot home.
Much like the first strike, Paulo Fonseca’s troops reacted positively to conceding, with Gabriel Gudmundsson producing a sublime first-time finish only to see his strike chalked off for an offside infringement.
Lille experienced more frustration when Martínez reacted well to keep out Gudmundsson’s diving header, before making another fine stop to thwart Hákon Arnar Haraldsson from the subsequent corner.
The visitors’ persistence ultimately paid off in the 84th minute when Diakité rose highest to meet a near-post corner and direct his header beyond a helpless Martínez.
Despite pulling a goal back, Lille still fell to their first defeat in the Europa Conference League, leaving them with a deficit to overturn in France next week.
Flashscore Man of the Match: John McGinn (Aston Villa)
