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Aston Villa will head to northern France next week knowing that if they avoid defeat, the first major European semi-final since 1982 awaits them.
Goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn in each half gave Villa a two-goal lead before
Lille closed the gap thanks to Bafodo Diakite and Unai Emery’s team had Emiliano Martínez to thank on a night in which the French team was repeatedly rejected by the Argentine goalkeeper.
If anyone had any doubts about the magnitude of this clash for Villa, then Emery’s program notes were enough to show what it meant.
Ahead of his 1,000th game in charge, the Spaniard wrote that “200 per cent” was the minimum required, highlighting that it was Villa’s first major European quarter-final since 1998.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins opened the scoring with his 25th goal of the season.
Watkins scored in the 13th minute, going unmarked in the box to head in from a McGinn corner.
John McGinn doubled the lead with a fine shot into the bottom corner in the 56th minute.
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‘Let’s dream together. Like 42 years ago,” he added, referring of course to Villa’s 1982 European Cup victory.
Emery knows more than anyone about continental success with four Europa League titles under his belt and named an unchanged XI from the team that drew with Brentford.
There had been a lot of talk about Paulo Fonseca’s Lille being the most entertaining in France, but when they got used to the game, Villa were ahead.
It took a brilliant tackle from Lille captain Benjamin Andre to prevent Watkins from initially giving Villa the lead in the 11th minute.
From the resulting corner, Watkins forced Lucas Chevalier to make a save and a minute later, from another corner, the Lille goalkeeper could do nothing when Watkins headed, unmarked, after a delivery from McGinn for his 25th goal of the season.
The goal even had the royal seal of approval as cameras focused on jubilant Prince William and Prince George in the stands.
Watkins almost had another soon after but was denied by a last-minute tackle from Diakite following a pass from Douglas Luiz, but the visitors were unlucky not to get level at half-time after squandering a number of chances. .
Former Tottenham and Newcastle midfielder Nabil Bentaleb played in Edon Zhegrova but the winger shot straight at Martínez and minutes later, the Argentine came back to the rescue to deny Diakite who went straight into the goal.
On the stroke of half-time, Villa gave the ball away in midfield, but Lille striker Jonathan David failed to beat Martínez.
Villa started the second half brighter when Bailey’s effort was saved by Chevalier after a clever backheel from Watkins and Bailey became provider minutes later, albeit with a touch of fortune.
Lille scored a goal when Bafode Diakite headed in an Angel Gomes cross.
Lille defender Gabriel Gudmundsson had an attempt disallowed for offside in the second half.
Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez made several saves to deny the French team.
Again, it was from a corner when Luiz played a short shot to Bailey, who slipped while trying to cross, but the ball reached the edge of the area, where McGinn was there to guide the ball perfectly into the bottom corner.
Lille thought they had pulled one back when Gabriel Gudmundsson scored on a volley, but VAR ruled it out for offside, much to the delight of Villa fans, who will no doubt be dreaming of Athens in May just as Emery told them.
There was still time for two more saves from Martínez before he was finally beaten by Diakite’s header from a Lille corner. It was the least that the visitors deserved for their effort and left the tie very calm.