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Football
Aston Villa
vs Lille. UEFA Europa League Round of 16.
8: 00pm, Thursday 19th March 2026.
Villa Park Attendance: Attendance37, 583.
3-0 Match report as Aston Villa complete a comfortable 3-0 aggregate win over Lille in the Europa League round of 16. Goals from John Mc Ginn and Leon Bailey set up a quarter-final against Italian opponents Bologna for Unai Emery's side
Football Features Writer
@ghostgoal
Thursday 19 March 2026 23: 21, UK Aston Villa are into the quarter-finals of the Europa League following a 2-0 win over Lille at Villa Park. Second-half goals from John Mc Ginn and Leon Bailey completed a 3-0 aggregate victory for Unai Emery's side as they put their poor Premier League form behind them to set up a tie with Bologna in the last eight. They had celebrated Emery's 100 wins in charge of the club before kick-off with a pre-match display and started brightly but had to wait for the breakthrough goal, Amadou Onana denied with their best chance of the first half when Berke Ozer dealt with his header. Lille seemed content to stay in the tie and wait for their opening despite being a goal down from the first leg in France - and when they did come out with more purpose after the interval they were punished. Emiliano Martinez was instrumental in Mc Ginn's goal. The Argentina international saved Nabil Bentaleb's low free-kick and then sent Jadon Sancho away down the right channel on the counter-attack. It was the winger who found Mc Ginn, making his first appearance at Villa Park since returning from injury. Bailey has had to wait longer than that, netting his first for Villa in over a year when fellow substitute Ollie Watkins unselfishly played him in. It was just what Villa needed, a scare-free win before an important game against West Ham back at Villa Park on Sunday. Aston Villa: Martinez (8), Bogarde (6), Lindelof (7), Torres (7), Maatsen (7), Luiz (5), Onana (6), Mc Ginn (8), Rogers (6), Abraham (6) Sancho (8).
Subs: Watkins (7), Cash (6), Buendia (6), Elliott (6), Bailey (7).
Lille: Ozer (6), Ngoy (6), Alexsandro (7), Mbemba (6), Perraud (6), Bentaleb (6), Mukau (5), Bouaddi (5), Meunier (5), Giroud (6), Felix Correia (6).
Subs: Edjouma (6), Haraldsson (6), Fernandez-Pardo (6), Mandi (6), Tiago Santos (6).
Player of the Match: John Mc Ginn. Aston Villa's Jadon Sancho speaking to TNT Sports:
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"He brings a lot of energy into the changing room. We're just so happy to have him back. Happy to assist him today. "At half-time, Emi [Martinez] said it's one-v-one with me and Tammy [Abraham]. "As soon as I saw him get the ball, I just kept on running, and I believed in him. I just saw the ball and then as I chopped inside, I saw John Mc Ginn, and of course I had to play it to him. " Unai Emery speaking in the press conference about John Mc Ginn: "He needs minutes and today he added minutes for him and for the team. Getting fit again, I think will be very important. Today he played 70 minutes, progressively getting better. "First half, he was again recovering confidence, playing left side, feeling confident there. Of course, if we can recover players like him, Youri Tielemans and Matty Cash, after two matches out, we can perform better. " Asked if that was the best performance by Jadon Sancho: "Hopefully, he plays matches improving on the match he played, but of course he played well today. Sancho, he has some high-level qualities. Today, he showed it in some moments. " "I am happy how we performed in the two matches, how we tried to play serious, being organised, respecting the opponent. "Not so brilliant those two matches, but consistent, defending well, dominating when we could dominate and when we had our momentum to be even ruthless against them. "I think we needed it. We needed those two matches to show this competitive way. " They blared out Alive and Kicking by Simple Minds at the final whistle at Villa Park and that is how it felt for Emery's side as they regrouped with a convincing win in front of their own fans. Villa have lost their last three Premier League matches, remember. Europe has so often been Emery's salvation and that could prove to be the case again this season even if they are currently on course to secure Champions League qualification through their Premier League place. The fans crave silverware. So does he. Unai Emery has reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League for the eighth time, no other manager has done so more than five times. Aston Villa will be the fifth club the Spaniard will take into this round of the competition, after Valencia (twice), Sevilla (three times), Arsenal and Villarreal. His programme notes told the tale. "When I arrived three and a half years ago, I shared my goal and dream was to play in Europe. Now it's no longer a dream - it's the standard, almost an obligation … That's the level. " He added: "It's about enjoying games like this. " Villa weren't as tested as they have been of late. Lille offered little aside from Ayyoub Bouaddi's first-half header and Olivier Giroud's effort disallowed for offside after the break. But the winning feeling will be welcome. A reminder that their season is alive. Quarter-finals: April 9 and 16 Semi-finals: April 30 and May 7 Final: May 20 [Besiktas Stadium, Istanbul] Play Super 6 for a chance to win £250k! Enter for free.
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