Young Boys vs Aston Villa LIVE: Champions League result and reaction as dominant Villa triumph in Bern
Young Boys 0-3 Aston Villa: Unai Emery’s men excelled on their Champions League debut
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Your support makes all the difference.Aston Villa made a glorious return to the European flight with a wonderful 3-0 victory against Young Boys in Switzerland.
Playing at the Stadion Wankdorf on an artificial pitch there were come concerns that Villa wouldn’t adapt to the conditions and for the opening 20 minutes the hosts were the better side. Unai Emery’s team did click though and took the lead from a fine set piece.
John McGinn received a short corner and swung a cross over to Youri Tielemans. He controlled it and drilled a low finish into the back of the net for Aston Villa’s first ever Champions League goal.
Two more followed, Jacob Ramsey making the most of a defensive mishap to add a second before Amadou Onana added a third late in the game. It could have been even better for the visitors as Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran, brought into the match as a substitute, both had goals disallowed.
It was a perfect night for the midlands club and they’ll now be determined to reach the knockout rounds.
Relive the Champions League action with our live blog below:
Young Boys vs Aston Villa
Here come the two teams!
The players head out onto the pitch in Bern, this is a huge night for Aston Villa who are playing in the Champions League for the very first time and the top flight of European football for the first time since 1983.
Can they go on to win this one?
Kick off is up next...
Young Boys vs Aston Villa team changes
Unai Emery keeps an unchanged Aston Villa side that recovered from two goals down to beat Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
Leon Bailey returns to the bench with Jhon Duran also among the substitutes.
Meanwhile, Young Boys make five changes to the team that beat Vevey-Sports in the Swiss Cup at the weekend.
Jaouen Hadjam, Tanguy Zoukrou, Ebrima Colley, Sandro Lauper and Silvere Ganvoula come in, replacing Loris Benito, Abdou Conte, Alan Virginius, Darian Males and Cedric Itten.
Unai Emery on Yonug Boys’ artificial turf
Unai Emery has tailored his side’s training plans for tonight’s game against Young Boys to ensure they are well prepared for the artificial turf this evening.
“We are going to adapt,” he said. “We changed a little bit our usual way for playing in Europe.
“Normally we have a training session in Birmingham and travel. But we decided to come to train here, to know and to adapt for the synthetic pitch.
“We’re ready and we won’t use it as an excuse. I think we can play with the same personality like we do at home.”
The new Champions League sets up a high-stakes game in football’s ‘turning point’
When Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin attends the first games of the new Champions League this week, it will be with a considerable security detail. This has led to grumbles from federation staff, especially since very few people outside football know what he even looks like. There have probably only been two moments when the Slovenian official was properly in the public eye.
One was when the Super League was launched in April 2021 and Ceferin admirably defended the spirit of European football in a defiant media appearance, all while lambasting executives as “snakes” and “liars”. Less publicised from that day was the fact Uefa were also in the process of approving the changes to the Champions League we are going to see enacted this week.
The new Champions League sets up a high-stakes game in football’s ‘turning point’
As the competition’s new format gets underway this week, there is a lot more at stake than who lifts the trophy at the end of the season
Aston Villa return to Europe’s top flight
This is Aston Villa’s first ever Champions League campaign. They are the 11th English club to feature in the competition proper.
Villa are taking part in the European Cup for the third time overall, and a first since 1982/83.
Back then they lost 5-2 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Juventus in the quarter-finals. That ended a defence of the trophy they had claimed with a 1-0 win against Bayern Munich in the 1982 final in Rotterdam.
Peter Withe scored the only goal in the second half.
Aston Villa vs Swiss teams
All four of Villa’s previous fixtures against teams from Switzerland came in the Uefa Intertoto Cup.
They beat Basel 5-2 on aggregate in a 2001 final and Zurich 3-2 in the third round the following year. The English side have therefore never won in Switzerland with seven of their eight goals against Swiss teams coming at Villa Park.
Emery on Aston Villa’s Champions League aims
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Unai Emery said: “To compete and face each match being competitive. How far we can get? I don’t know. But, of course, I’m not going to refuse any objective in this competition.
“Tomorrow, try to start being comfortable on the pitch, try to start playing increasing our level. We’ve started very well in the Premier League, but I think we still have a lot of work to do.
“Tomorrow is a good opportunity again to try to get it – tactically and individually. And then be competitive, adapting to the opponent’s demands, and try to impose our style, our idea, our gameplan.”
Young Boys vs English teams
Young Boys were paired with Manchester City in last season’s Champions League group stage, losing 1-3 at home and 0-3 away two weeks later.
They faced City’s neighbours Manchester United in both of their first two Champions League group stage appearances, losing 0-3 at home and 0-1 away – conceding in the 91st minute – in 2018/19.
Where to watch every Champions League fixture on TV this week
Thursday 19 September
17:45 Feyenoord v Bayer 04 Leverkusen - TNT Sports 2
17:45 FK Crvena Zvezda v SL Benfica - TNT Sports 4
20:00 Atalanta BC v Arsenal FC - TNT Sports 1
20:00 AS Monaco v FC Barcelona - TNT Sports 2
20:00 Atlético de Madrid v RB Leipzig - TNT Sports 4
20:00 Stade Brestois 29 v SK Sturm Graz - TNT Sports 5
Where to watch every Champions League fixture on TV this week
Wednesday 18 September
17:45 AC Sparta Praha v FC Salzburg - TNT Sports 6
17:45 Bologna FC 1909 v FC Shakhtar Donetsk - TNT Sports 4
20:00 Celtic FC v ŠK Slovan Bratislava - TNT Sports 2
20:00 Club Brugge KV v Borussia Dortmund - TNT Sports 5
20:00 Manchester City v FC Internazionale Milano - TNT Sports 1
20:00 Paris Saint-Germain v Girona FC - TNT Sports 4
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