JOHN MCGINN sealed another magical night for Aston Villa in Rotterdam as Unai Emery’s side recaptured their best form to move joint-top of the Europa League standings.
In the stadium that saw their greatest European triumph in 1982, Villa beat the Dutch league leaders ugly to secure three straight wins in all competitions.
The Midlands club returned to Feyenoord’s De Kuip Stadium for the first time in 43 years when Peter Withe converted Tony Morley’s cross for an unforgettable 1-0 win over Bayern Munich.
And losing Emi Martinez through injury just before kickoff was arguably a good omen for the 2,000 away fans stationed up in the gods.
Marco Bizot replacing Martinez felt like a nod to that famous 1982 final, where substitute goalkeeper Nigel Spink came on after ten minutes and played a blinder.
Both Spink and former Villa Park full-back Kenny Swain were in the building as Emiliano Buendia’s 61st minute curler and McGinn’s calm finish were the difference.
It’s now back-to-back wins and two clean sheets in Europe this season as Villa had threatened to blow their chance to build momentum after an underwhelming start in the Prem.
Villa are among the favourites to win the Europa League after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals last term, narrowly losing 5-4 on aggregate to the eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain.
More importantly Villa manager Unai Emery has a particular knack for winning this competition.
The 53-year-old has won it three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal – his Arsenal team were defeated by Chelsea in the 2019 final – and no boss has matched that record.
Back-up keeper Bizot was called into action straight away as he took a huge blow to the body from Ayase Ueda after a brave punch from a corner inside three minutes.
Feyenoord boss Robin Van Persie had revealed that Watkins’ name featured heavily in their pre-match talks and it was the Englishman who tried to shift the momentum.
The goalless first-half was full of incidents as referee Rade Obrenovic was arguably on the wrong side of two big calls.
The first moment came when the official failed to upgrade his yellow card at the monitor for centre-back Anel Ahmedhodzic after a last-man swipe on Watkins in the 13th minute.
Villa soon found themselves on the ropes.
In a matter of seconds, Ueda sent a scissor kick at Bizot from the edge of the box, Ian Maatsen hacked away Steijn’s goal-bound volley off the line and Ueda freely headed wide with the goal at his mercy.
The second big decision came when Feyenoord’s goal was harshly disallowed after Matty Cash softly went down next to Tsuyoshi Watanabe in the box during a corner in the 31st minute.
Another VAR check this time for a red card after Givairo Buendia tumbled in the box under pressure from Givairo Read correctly went against Villa.
Ezri Konsa and Torres stuck together to block Steijn twice before Evann Guessand hit the outside of the near post in the 52nd minute.
Villa’s No10 Buendia then added to his goal against Fulham with a classy clip into the bottom corner after Boubacar Kamara expertly won the 50-50 on the edge of the box before squaring it.
Donyell Malen then unleashed an incredible 15-yard run before the ball ricocheted out to captain McGinn to slot home with ten minutes to go.
Bizot, who saved eight out of 19 shots at his goal, had a super night and he produced another fine stop to deny Valente for the second time in the final embers.
Emery has now won 115 of 200 European games as Feyenoord lost at home for the first time this season.
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