Aston Villa have secured a place in the Europa Conference League for the 2023/24 season after beating Brighton at Villa Park. This is the first time the Villans will play in Europe since 2010.
When Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard as Villa’s manager, he made no secret about wanting Villa in Europe. Still, until recently, I don’t think even the Spaniard thought it was possible this season.
Some people will mock this competition but I am sure Roma and West Ham fans would strongly disagree with you and I am sure Villa supporters will be travelling around Europe next season.
Report: Aston Villa 2-1 Brighton
Brighton had already secured a spot in the Europa League so you could have forgiven them for already being on the beach but the visitors had different ideas. Away from Villa, they have been my favourite side to watch this season and in Roberto De Zerbi they have a manager with extremely high standards.
The Italian stated: “We played well, with honour, with respect for the Premier League, respect for ourselves, for our fans, our club.
“Aston Villa deserved to qualify for the Conference League and we deserved to qualify for the Europa League.”
In truth, the second half was nail-biting but give me a nail-biting afternoon of football fighting for a European spot than fighting for survival as we have had to do in previous seasons.
Both sides looked good going forward and capable of scoring goals and on another day, the visitors may have had a different outcome but this day was all about Aston Villa.
The home side came close inside the first five minutes when Leon Bailey got the better of Pascal Gross to get on the end of Jacob Ramsey’s cross but his effort took a deflection off the defender and onto the cross-bar.
The atmosphere had been building all around the ground prior to kick off and it reached new levels when Villa took the lead.
Douglas Luiz picked up the ball on the left before spotting the run of Ramsey who continued into the box and returned the ball to Luiz who slotted past Jason Steele. 1 nil.
Brighton should probably have been level almost straight away when Evan Ferguson broke the offside trap but the bar denied the Irish forward.
Moments later, the visitors did have the ball in the net. Gross found Encisco from a cross who was able to slot past Martinez but VAR ruled the goal out as Gross had been offside earlier in the move.
Tensions were soon eased when Villa doubled their lead. Bailey played Ramsey through on goal who beat Steele to the ball and squared for Ollie Watkins to score in an open net.
Brighton were far from beaten and didn’t give up on coming back into the game. First Ferguson thought he was about to score but Boubacar Kamara got a slight touch to send his effort wide.
The visitors did pull one back through Undav but a VAR check this time ruled in Brighton’s favour to make it 2-1.
The half-time whistle came at the right time for Villa and they very nearly restored their two-goal lead when Luiz hit the crossbar direct from a corner.
The second half was a real battle with the referee making dodgy decisions to much of the amazement of both teams but Villa eventually got the final whistle to secure the three points and their return to Europe!
Analysis
Where do I start? The build both inside and outside of the ground pre-kick-off was immense. There was a real vibe around Villa Park.
The players rewarded the fans by defining the odds, you don’t need me to tell you where we were when Emery took over but to get into Europe – is beyond most Villans’ wildest dreams.
It will take a few days to process what we have achieved this season but this is just the start. I truly believe that. It will be a big summer and we have a top-class manager who I believe on his day, can give any team in the world a game.