Preview for Aston Villa v Bologna
Unai Emery says there will be no complacency from his Aston Villa side against Bologna tomorrow night and insists they will “fight more than we did” in the first leg.
Villa head into the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final with a 3-1 advantage following a convincing win in Italy last week.
But Emery is adamant the job is not yet done and says Bologna boss Vincenzo Italiano’s record of reaching the 2023 and 2024 Conference League finals with former club Fiorentina and last season’s Coppa Italia final with the Rossoblu demands attention.
He said: ”We are in the quarter-final second leg. Of course we have a good result. But watching the experience and watching the coach playing three finals in the last three years, the respect is massive.
“When they were playing against Roma [in the last round], maybe you could think Rome was the favourite and they beat one of the favourites. How they are competing, how they are as a team, how they are pushing all the matches, of course we make ourselves respectful.
“They are going to play the same match. So aggressive, so intense, getting duels man to man, and attacking us. I respect a lot and I appreciate a lot the performance.
“We have a very good team. When the referee’s whistle, the first minute starts, we’re going to be focused 100% because we will fight tomorrow more than we did [in the first leg].”
The first goal will be key tomorrow and Villa midfielder Yuri Tielemans knows they can’t replicate their sloppy opening in Italy last week.
The Belgium international said: “We had a bit of a slow start in the first half, [Bologna] had a goal disallowed but we worked really hard on keeping that line and it paid off. Tomorrow we can’t have that.
“I think we can feel we’re in a good moment. We’ve got some momentum with playing for the highest places in the Premier League and the quarter-final in the Europa League.
“But we’re aware of where we are. We know our qualities and we deserve to be there because we work hard for it. We’ve got some really good results over the last few months. It’s just a good time for us and we want to keep it until the end of the season.”
Bologna warmed up for their trip to Villa with a 2-0 win over Lecce at the weekend – their sixth victory in eight Serie A games – to maintain eighth place in the table.
Remo Freuler nodded them in front and Riccardo Orsolini added a late second.
Team news for Aston Villa v Bologna
Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is set to play after returning to training today. Tyrone Mings and Jadon Sancho are also available. Morgan Rogers, John McGinn, Matty Cash, Lucas Digne and Victor Lindelof are all one booking away from a one-game suspension.
Bologna’s Martin Vitik is back from suspension but centre-half Jhon Lucumi is banned. Benjamin Dominguez and first-choice goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski are still sidelined.
Predicted line-ups for Aston Villa v Bologna
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Pau Torres, Digne; McGinn, Onana, Tielemans, Rogers; Buendía, Watkins
Bologna: Ravaglia; João Mário, Vitík, Heggem, Miranda; Moro, Ferguson, Freuler; Bernardeschi, Castro, Rowe
Where to watch Aston Villa v Bologna: TV and online streams
Kick-off on Thursday is at 8pm UK time. In the UK, live coverage is on TNT Sports. Streaming is on 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.
If you don’t live in the UK, click HERE to find out where to watch the game in your region.
Stats for Aston Villa v Bologna
- This is the fourth meeting between the teams, with Villa having been victorious on each occasion. The English club were 1-0 winners on Matchday 1 of the league phase, John McGinn’s 13th-minute strike earning a 1-0 home win at Villa Park.
- The sides’ only other meeting came during the league phase of last season’s Champions League, also at Villa Park, with McGinn once again on target in a 2-0 victory for the Premier League club.
- Villa lost four of their first five matches against Italian teams (W1), but are unbeaten in the five subsequent fixtures (W4 D1). A 1-2 loss to Juventus in the first leg of a 1982/83 European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final tie is their only home defeat against an Italian team; they have since won four out of five at Villa Park (D1), keeping a clean sheet in all five.
- Villa have won one and lost two of their three two‑legged ties against Italian clubs, their sole victory coming most recently — a success on penalties against holders Inter in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup first round.
- Bologna are winless in their six encounters with English clubs (D1 L5), losing the last five. All four of their trips to England have ended in defeat, with one goal scored and eight conceded.
- Bologna’s only previous two‑legged European tie against an English club was a 5-3 aggregate defeat by Fulham in a 2002 Intertoto Cup final.
Prediction for Aston Villa v Bologna
Villa will be eager not to slip up here. If they can get the first goal then the tie ought to be over and they can rotate players ahead of the weekend clash with Sunderland.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-0 Bologna
