Aston Villa find perfect way to forget about unwanted transfer attention in Champions League thriller
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On a night dominated by transfer news surrounding their two leading marksmen, a hat-trick from someone else, Morgan Rogers, was required to fire Aston Villa directly into the last 16 of the Champions League as Uefa netted yet another victory for their shiny new format.
Capping a memorable first league-phase adventure at Europe’s top table since 1982-83, a night full of drama ended with hat-trick hero Rogers, scoring his first three goals in the Champions League, and team-mates huddled around a phone to see if other results had gone Villa’s way.
Atalanta’s draw away to Barcelona sealed eighth spot for Villa – another remarkable achievement for Unai Emery. But the action on the pitch only told half the story of a night packed with more drama than a Hollyoaks omnibus.
Upon arrival at a frosty Villa Park, a somewhat tone deaf rendition of “Watkins on fire” boomed out of a fan zone across from the Holte End, blissfully unaware of the internal chaos their England international hitman was causing a few yards away.
Not tonight, lads. As if there wasn’t enough going on amid an unprecedentedly chaotic night of new-age Champions League action, news of a rejected Ollie Watkins bid from Arsenal spread like wildfire less than an hour before kick off. Talk that Watkins is keen on the move to the club he has supported all his life was not ideal preparation for a must-win encounter.
Ollie who? Came the cry from the Holte End as two goals from Rogers, the effervescent midfielder becoming the first player in Champions League history to score twice inside the first five minutes of a match, putting the hosts in a rather strong position, against a team with two wins from 43 away from home in the competition.
Villa should have been further out of sight before the half-hour mark, with man-of-the-moment Watkins seeing an effort cleared off the line, before Jacob Ramsey struck the post. News of the hosts’ other striker, Jhon Duran, having a medical booked in London ahead of a big-money move to Saudi Arabia just could not wait until after the match for publication either.
The action on the pitch took a downward turn rapidly, too. With a hand from Villa’s talismanic Scot John McGinn, former Norwich striker Adam Idah acrobatically got his side back in it 36 minutes in, before tapping home from close range two minutes later to complete a Celtic fc comeback in the blink of an eye.
Frustrations boiled over in the stands, with plentiful Celtic fans in the home end enjoying their opportunity to wind up some English folk. Away supporters in their official seats danced a Celtic jig all interval, with Villans dumbfounded as to how their team had let such a comfortable position slip.
In a match that ensured there will be more smug faces around Uefa HQ after their Champions League rebrand has, somewhat surprisingly, bore fruit, the pendulum swung once more in the hosts’ favour, as Watkins was set up for a comfortable finish by Jacob Ramsey on the hour mark to put Villa back in front.
What did the muted celebration mean? Was he waving goodbye? Such questions were not left to fester for long, as Watkins was fouled in the penalty area to win a spot kick to surely seal Villa’s fate, only for the England striker to slip as he stepped up from 12 yards, the ball looping embarrassingly over.
With a spot in the play-offs already secured, Celtic never really looked like mounting another comeback, with Rogers sealing his first continental treble in stoppage time.
Bayern Munich or Real Madrid await the Scottish champions in the play-offs, whereas Villa get a much-needed break as their European adventure shows no sign of slowing down.
