Barkley’s late goal gives Villa impressive victory

Aston Villa moved up to third place in the Champions League standings thanks to a late deflected goal from Ross Barkley that earned them victory in a magnificent match in Germany.

Villa took an early lead thanks to captain John McGinn, but Lois Openda equalized when Emiliano Martínez was caught out of position in the Villa goal.

Unai Emery introduced super substitute Jhon Durán at half-time and it only took seven minutes for him to make his mark and whip Villa back in front.

Durán had another goal disallowed for offside and moments after that goal was disallowed, Christoph Baumgartner equalized.

In a rollercoaster second half, Barkley came off the bench to win and send Villa third, five points behind leaders Liverpool.

The top eight automatically qualify for the next phase and, with matches against Monaco and Celtic ahead, Emery’s men are a good bet to avoid the need for a play-off round in their first foray into this competition.

Leipzig are eliminated, having lost all six of their matches.

Job done… finally 😅 #RBLAVL #UCL pic.twitter.com/PRD1Hi1Q3A

—Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 10, 2024

Villa led when Matty Cash, playing in a more advanced position on the right, crossed for Ollie Watkins who headed into the path of McGinn and the captain made no mistake from close range.

That gave the visitors confidence and they had enough opportunities in the first 15 minutes to put the game away.

Lucas Digne’s cross from the left begged to be converted, but Watkins failed to make contact from close range and then Morgan Rogers fired straight at Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.

Youri Tielemans then found himself with time and space on the edge of the area from Watkins’ tee, but the Belgium international disappointingly went wide.

However, all that good work was undone in the 27th minute, when Martínez was left red-faced.

The Argentine was too casual waiting to receive a long ball from Nicolas Seiwald and Openda intervened to take the ball first and touch the empty goal.

Durán was introduced at half-time and was invited forward and unleashed a 25-yard shot, before Baumgartner cushioned a volley from the far post towards goal and into the corner.

Lucas Digne saved from Peter Gulacsi and then Openda fired straight at Martínez as both sides searched for a winner.

It was Villa who got it when Barkley saw his effort deflected off Gulacsi’s wrong foot and hit the back of the net.

“It’s exciting to be in the top three”

“I thought overall we were the better team and we could have scored more,” Villa captain John McGinn told Amazon Prime. “We solved their problems well and what we needed today were substitutes who came in and made a difference.

“It’s exciting. “It’s fantastic to be in the top three.”