Aston Villa and Lille have confirmed their starting teams for their meeting at Villa Park in the second leg of the 2025/26 Europa League round of 16.
Ollie Watkins’ second-half winner has given the Premier League side a 1-0 lead to protect in pursuit of a quarter-final against Roma or Bologna.
The Italian sides meet again in Rome on Thursday (20:00 GMT), having drawn the first leg of their tie 1-1.
101GreatGoals.com has the line-up news from Villa vs Lille in the Europa League, as well as details on how to watch.
Less than 24 hours to go ⏳ #UEL pic.twitter.com/oFHOY0Im5O
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 18, 2026
Aston Villa confirmed starting team vs Lille
Right-back Matty Cash (calf) and midfielders Boubacar Kamara (knee) and Youri Tielemans (ankle) are out, as are wingers Emiliano Buendia and Harvey Elliott with knocks. Ross Barkley is ineligible.
Aston Villa starting XI: Martinez, Bogarde, Lindelof, Pau, Maatsen, Luiz, Onana, McGinn, Rogers, Sancho, Abraham
Villa substitutes: Bizot, Wright, Mings, Konsa, Digne, Cash, Garcia, Elliott, Buendia, Bailey, Watkins
Lille full line up vs Villa
Defender Ousmane Toure and striker Hamza Igamane have knee injuries. Wingers Ethan Mbappe (thigh) and Osame Sahraoui (groin) and goalkeeper Marc-Aurele Caillard (elbow) are also sidelined.
Lille starting XI: Ozer, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Mbemba, Perraud, Bouaddi, Bentaleb, Mukau, Meunier, Giroud, Correia
Lille substitutes: Bodart, Lanssade, Fernandez-Pardo, Haraldsson, Edjouma, Santos, Mandi, Verdonk, Diaoune, Baret, Boussadia
Where to watch Villa vs Lille: TV channel, live online streams
Kick-off on Thursday is at 20:00 GMT (15:00 ET / 12:00 PT). In the UK, live coverage is on TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate and the Discovery Plus app.
TNT Sports costs £30.99 a month, including Eurosport and entertainment and available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles.
From March 26, TNT Sports streaming will switch from Discovery Plus to HBO Max.
Aston Villa v Lille stats
- These teams have met in two previous ties across four matches: Lille won their 2002 Intertoto Cup semi‑final 3-1 on aggregate, while Villa progressed from the 2023/24 Europa Conference League quarter‑finals after a 3-3 aggregate draw and penalty shoot‑out victory
- Villa have won three of their five previous two-legged ties against French teams and four of their five previous home matches against French clubs (L1)
- The Villans have won 15 of their last 17 European home matches (D1 L1), including each of the last seven.
- They are aiming to reach a European quarter-final for a third consecutive season, having beaten Ajax 4-0 on aggregate in the 2023/24 Conference League round of 16 and Club Brugge 6-1 on aggregate in last season’s Champions League round of 16
- In two previous two‑legged European ties in which they have won the first leg away by a one‑goal margin, Aston Villa have progressed once and exited once
- Lille have lost nine of their last 11 matches against English teams (W1 D1) and six of their last nine Europa League matches overall (W3)
- Their last four two-legged ties against English opposition have been unsuccessful
- This is Lille’s first Europa League round of 16 appearance since the 2009/10 campaign, when they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Liverpool
- Les Dogues have advanced from five of their last seven two-legged European ties.
- They have won one and lost four of their five previous two‑legged European ties after losing the first leg at home by a one‑goal margin, with the sole success coming this season against Crvena Zvezda in the Europa League knockout play-off round, overturning a 1-0 defeat with a 2-0 extra‑time win
