Aston Villa dumped out of Europa League
English Premier League outfit Aston Villa have found out first-hand that history can repeat itself after they were dumped out of the UEFA Europa League by the same team at the same stage as last season.
Rapid Vienna triumphed in their play-off clash second-leg 3-2 at Villa Park to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate. Villa took the advantage through a Gabriel Agbonlahor goal before Atdhe Nuhiu netted to restore parity for the visitors. Emile Heskey restored the lead for the Villans but Mario Sonnleiter again equalised before a Rene Gartler strike saw Rapid through to the group stage.
Strong team
Villa caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald, who was named temporary first-team boss after the sudden resignation of Martin O’Neill, named a strong team which included England international winger Ashley Young and new signing Stephen Ireland.
After losing 6-0 to Newcastle United in the EPL on Sunday, there had been fears among some of the Villa fans that the hangover from that heavy defeat would affect the European clash. However, that was not to be — at least initially — as the Birmingham side tested opposing goalkeeper Raimund Hedl within the opening minutes. Young played a through pass which sliced open the Rapid defence and set up Agbonlahor who fired a low effort but failed to find the net.
Young started the game impressively on the right flank and was causing the Rapid defence all manner of problems. A free-kick alerted Hedl to the danger posed by the winger, before he helped give Villa the lead. After receiving the ball from Ireland, Young delivered a low first-time cross into the six-yard box for Agbonlahor to turn it into the net.
Striker substituted
Agbonlahor had been menacing the Rapid defence and looked ready to double his tally for the night, but took a knock and had to be replaced by Marc Albrighton. That enforced change also seemed to knock the wind out of Young, who seemed much more subdued for much of the rest of the encounter.
In the second half, Albrighton created a chance for himself after he jinked through the Rapid back-line but sent his shot wide. Villa were made to quickly pay for that error when Veli Kavlak fired a cross from the right to Nuhiu to head home.
Villa then found themselves with two penalty claims — one for a challenge on Young by Marcus Katzer was not given, but a challenge on Heskey by Sonnleitner was enough for referee Eric Braamhaar to point to the spot. However, Stiliyan Petrov’s effort was saved by Hedl with Heskey fluffed his follow-up over the bar despite having an open goal — a miss that would come back to haunt the home team.
Making amends
Heskey managed to make amends for that a few minutes later when a goalmouth scramble from a Villa corner saw the ball bounce off his chest and in.
However, that was not enough to send the EPL side though. Just one minute after Heskey netted, Sonnleitner headed home from a corner before Gartler sealed Rapid’s progression when he steered home Christopher Trimmel's cross in the 81st minute.
After the game, MacDonald said that: "We are obviously very disappointed. I thought we were in total control when we went a goal ahead. We might have scored one or two more and I thought we played some good football, when we got our top players like Stephen Ireland and Ashley Young on the ball. We gave away a silly equaliser and then got in front again. At that point, I expect a team with so many top players to actually keep the lead for a bit longer than they did. We gave a silly third goal away as well. It was three individual mistakes and we are out the tournament.”
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