Villa snatch victory against Zrinjski in dramatic European clash
Playing under the lights of Villa Park in Europe for the first time in over a decade, Aston Villa knew a victory was vital after falling to defeat in matchday one.
Unai Emery himself is no stranger to UEFA competition though, and his side got off to a fast start, with Nicolò Zaniolo looking particularly dangerous, as the Italian had two efforts on goal deflected behind and a spectacular bicycle kick parried away.
For all their positive start to the game, the Villans failed to make their dominance count.
Instead it was the Bosnian champions who looked the most threatening just before HT, Despite them travelling to Birmingham after a return of only one win in their previous six European away fixtures.
However, neither side could find the back of the net in a relatively subdued first half that didn’t match up to pre-game expectations.
Looking to shake things up in the second half, Emery wasted no time, making a triple change, including the introduction of leading goalscorer, Ollie Watkins.
The striker was immediately in the thick of the action as his goal bound header struck the hand of Slobodan Jakovljević, for which referee Urs Schnyder pointed to the spot, but after a VAR review and rewatching the incident on the pitchside monitor, the penalty decision was overturned.
Villa continued to probe though, and produced chance after chance.
First, Diego Carlos had two chances saved, and then Clément Lenglet had a header saved by Marko Marić.
The Villans continued pushing for an opening goal, but a resolute Zrinjski defence continued to stand strong against the array of attackers in Claret and Blue.
Frustratingly for them, Villa had over 25 shots but could not find the breakthrough.
That was until the 95th minute, when John McGinn popped up in the box to nod home from close-range past Marić.
A big win for Emery’s men sees them secure their first points of the UECL campaign, with all four sides sitting on three points.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marko Marić (HŠK Zrinjski Mostar)
