Overview
After reaching the Conference League semi-finals in 2024 and the Champions League quarter-finals last season, Aston Villa continues to participate in the Europa League knockout round this season. The Midlands team won a direct ticket to the round of 16 after finishing second in the group stage of 36 teams, equal points with the leading team Lyon.
Aston Villa showed quite impressive form in the European arena. They scored 2 or more goals in 9 of the last 13 matches in European cups, including 5 matches in the group stage this season. Villa's only defeat in the group stage was the away defeat to Go Ahead Eagles in the third match in October last year.
However, since the 3-2 victory over Red Bull Salzburg at the end of January, the performance of coach Unai Emery's team in the domestic league has shown signs of decline. Aston Villa has only won one of their last 7 matches in all competitions (2 draws, 4 losses), including a heavy 1-4 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League last week.
The Europa League can therefore become an important goal for the Villa Park team. This is also a feasible path for them to win tickets to the Champions League next season, in the context that a 4-match winless streak in the Premier League has shaken hopes of reaching the top 5. Currently, Aston Villa is still fourth, 3 points ahead of Liverpool in sixth place.
Emery even publicly expressed his ambition to help Villa win their first major title since 1996. The Spanish coach is also aiming for his fifth Europa League title in his career - a record in this league. Emery has won 66 out of 102 matches in the Europa League with 5 different clubs and has never been eliminated in the round of 16 in the last seven appearances.
On the opposite side, Lille had to go through the play-offs after an unstable group stage campaign. The French team won 4 and lost 4 in 8 matches, ranking 18th overall and 4 points behind the group that directly qualified for the round of 16.
Les Dogues successfully reversed the score in the play-offs when they defeated Red Star Belgrade. After losing the first leg, Lille won 2-0 in the second leg in Belgrade after extra time, thereby winning the final 2-1 to participate in the European Cup round of 16 for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Coach Bruno Genesio's team currently maintains a 4-match unbeaten streak in all competitions (3 wins, 1 draw). However, they just dropped an unfortunate victory when they let Lorient equalize 1-1 in the 90+3 minute in Ligue 1 last weekend. This result puts Lille in sixth place in the standings and five points behind the top 4 when the season has 9 rounds left.
In the upcoming match, Lille will return to their home ground Stade Pierre-Mauroy, where they won 3 out of 5 matches in the Europa League this season (2 losses) and both scored at least 2 goals in those victories. However, their home form recently has not been really stable when they have only won 2 out of the last 8 matches in all competitions (2 draws, 4 losses).
Against English opponents, Lille also does not have a good record when only winning three out of 19 recent encounters (5 draws, 11 losses). However, one of them was the 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park in the Intertoto Cup semi-finals in 2002.
Expected lineup:
Ozer, Santos, Ngoy, Mandi, Perraud, Bentaleb, Andre, Bouaddi, Haraldsson, Giroud, Correia.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen, Luiz, Onana, Sancho, Rogers, Buendia, Watkins.
The match between Lille and Aston Villa takes place at 0:45 AM on March 13 (Vietnam time).
