Football writer Alex Keble reflects on Aston Villa opening their UEFA Europa League campaign against Serie A side Bologna.
When Aston Villa look back on the 2025/26 campaign they might come to see Thursday night's 1-0 victory over Bologna as the moment their season really kicked off.
A first win at the seventh attempt comes as a huge relief to everyone connected with Villa.
It could be their first step on the road to recovery, and perhaps the first step on a journey all the way to the final of the Europa League.
Villa are the favourites for a reason. Unai Emery has won the Europa League four times before and has reached the final in each of his last five full seasons in the competition.
He knows the importance of a winning start.
They got that thanks to a 13th-minute strike (below) from captain John McGinn, who spoke frankly about his relief after the game. “It was important to get a win at home,” he told TNT Sports.
“We could have made it easier ourselves,” he added, “but do you know what? At this stage we’ll take anything that’s coming.”
First win – and a strong performance – is a huge boost for Emery
It was imperative that Villa used the Europa League to reset. Away from the pressure and the grind of the Premier League, and under the floodlights at Villa Park, here was a chance for the players to remind themselves what the domestic slog is for.
And they took it, perhaps not quite comfortably but with enough sparks of high-quality football - and certainly with enough defensive assuredness - to begin to rebuild confidence.
Villa’s defence has now kept a clean sheet in 50 per cent of their matches in all competitions (3/6), a clear silver lining amid a difficult beginning to 2025/26.
They looked even stronger this evening courtesy of a firmer, clearer, and braver defensive line led by the returning Pau Torres; Villa caught nine offsides, triple their previous highest total this season.
Torres was just as good on the ball as off it, helping Villa to pass the ball out from the back and take advantage of an aggressive man-to-man press from Bologna.
The only goal of the tie came from a corner, but the attack that won the corner was textbook Emery: risky passing out from the back that drew in the high press and, spinning around it, produced a four on four in the final third.
It’s a tentative sign of Villa’s old tactical rhythms returning. Emery will be hoping the confidence boost of tonight’s win ups the tempo of Villa’s play and gets them back to their best.
Fringe players shine
There were good performances, too, from Evan Guessand, Donyell Malen, Ian Maatsen and Jadon Sancho, four fringe players whom Emery may now consider starting in the Premier League match against Fulham this Sunday.
The rotation might have been to ensure fitness, but these four in particular proved a point.
Malen and Guessand were often up front together, smartly holding up the ball and making runs in behind; a double battering ram for when Villa went long.
Their energy was matched by Sancho after his introduction in the 58th minute. He was sharp on the left, growing into the game as it became stretched in the final minutes, providing some clever touches, the occasional shimmy inside, and a decent effort on goal.
Elsewhere Maatsen quietly had one of his best performances in a Villa shirt, defending solidly up against a difficult opponent in Federico Bernardeschi.
Villa have looked flat throughout 2025/26, lacking pace, urgency, and a willingness to try something different. All four of the lesser spotted players tonight reminded Emery of what he’s missing – and pointed him towards a solution.
Watkins and Rogers continue to struggle for form
As positive as those four were, it was the exact opposite for regulars Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers, who continued to look desperately out of form and low on confidence.
Rogers finished the match with a passing success rate of 41.7 per cent (10/24). For context, his Premier League average last season was 73.2 per cent.
At one point late on the Villa crowd appeared to cheer ironically (or was it supportively?) when Rogers got a five yard pass on target. It was not his night.
Nor was it Watkins’, who missed a penalty to extend his barren spell to eight matches in all competitions for Villa. He has now missed four of his last eight spot kicks for the club.
Watkins looked visibly nervous before his run-up, feeling the pressure perhaps even more acutely after the crowd roared when the ball was first put in his arms.
Rarely does a crowd sing the player’s name during the run-up to a penalty. It showed just how desperately Villa fans wanted their star striker to get a goal, but it wasn’t to be and Watkins hit a lame penalty straight down the middle.
“He’s a top class striker,” McGinn said, staying positive. “If he’s not scoring that’s fine, you see the effort he puts in for the team.
“We don’t put any pressure on Ollie. He’s been brilliant for us and he has nothing to prove to us.”
Those are the kind of supportive, upbeat comments you can make when the winning feeling returns.
The challenge for Villa is to ride this wave into the weekend.