Aston Villa cruised to a 3-0 win over Younger Boys – and even had room to see two targets dominated out – as they topped their Champions League debut with a superb victory.
After taking their time to adapt to their Swiss hosts’ plastic pitch, Villa settled after Youri Tielemans’ training-ground transfer to drill dwelling a back-post cross from a Lucas Digne nook simply earlier than the half-hour.
Farcical defending quickly put them in full management as Mohamed Camara tried a pass-back to his goalkeeper David Von Ballmoos from a number of yards out – which proved a calamitous choice.
Watkins pounced on the ball earlier than he was caught by the house keeper, and with plenty of gamers stopping and awaiting a possible penalty, Jacob Ramsey as an alternative performed on and rolled the ball into the empty web.
It may have been three earlier than the break when Watkins, who had already missed a presentable probability, rifled in a rebound when his preliminary shot had been blocked, just for a harsh VAR overview to guage he had dealt with the ball within the build-up.
It was extra of an open-and-shut case as the identical destiny befell a shocking strike from substitute Jhon Duran with 11 minutes to go.
The Colombian’s 20-yard first-time effort was inch excellent to seek out the underside nook, however a transparent hand ball from Amadou Onana a number of passes earlier than noticed him denied.
There was no stopping the Belgian himself minutes later, nonetheless.
The summer season signing matched his aim tally from the entire of final season as he leathered in his third since his transfer from Everton into the identical nook to seal a thumping victory in Bern, as Aston Villa ended their 41-year absence from the European Cup in some model.
The one black mark for Villa might show the health of Watkins, who was pictured together with his heel on an ice pack shortly after he made manner for Duran on the hour mark.
