Basel 1-2 Aston Villa: Another victory as Unai Emery’s side continue strong form at home and abroad
Aston Villa continued their strong form in the Europa League on matchday six with a hard-earned win away to Basel, sealed by a second-half strike from Youri Tielemans.
The midfielder, introduced at the interval, settled the match with a clean first-time finish and let Unai Emery get away with heavy rotation on the back of their demanding victory over Arsenal at the weekend.
Basel had arrived in good form in Europe, with seven straight home wins before this match. It showed in the way they started the game with confidence but it was Villa who went ahead with 12 minutes played. After a chaotic sequence in the box, forward Evann Guessand reacted quickest when a clearance ricocheted off Philip Otele. It was Guessand’s second goal since joining Villa from Nice, and both have come in Europe.
The hosts thought they had drawn level through Leo Leroy but VAR cancelled the goal for offside. The equaliser did arrive moments later, however, when Xherdan Shaqiri’s free-kick was met by Flavius Daniliuc, who put the ball beyond Marco Bizot after the Villa goalkeeper rushed from his line.
With Villa’s under-strength side lagging, Emery brought on Tielemans at half time and it quickly paid dividends. Lamare Bogarde’s pass into Emiliano Buendia allowed the hero of the weekend’s crunch clash against Arsenal to slip the ball to Tielemans at the edge of the box. The Belgian guided his finish into the corner.
Emery called on more first-teamers from the bench, including midfielders Boubacar Kamara and Morgan Rogers, and Villa asserted more control. There was a late penalty appeal when Tielemans nearly undid his good work with a tackle in the box. It wasn’t given. Villa survived.
