Aston Villa progress in Europe after win over fanless Legia Warsaw
Post-match reaction from Aston Villa 2-1 Legia Warsaw in the Europa Conference League, including an overview of the police events before the match.
Transcript
00:00 Aston Villa are through to at least a knockout playoff round of the European Conference League
00:05 after beating Ligia Warsaw by two goals to one here at Villa Park.
00:08 It's now four European wins in a row for Unai Emery's team.
00:12 Under the lights here at freezing cold Villa Park, actually a lot of the drama was before the game
00:16 and a lot of the attention will be away from the action on the pitch
00:19 as Ligia Warsaw fans were not allowed into the stadium at all
00:23 because of a lot of drama with police outside the ground.
00:26 I understand that police officers, several of them, were injured by missiles being thrown by the Ligia fans.
00:33 The decision was made not to let them in.
00:35 A very eerie and weird atmosphere here in the ground
00:37 until Moussa Diaby opened the scoring in the fourth minute.
00:40 A lovely curled finish into the bottom left-hand corner.
00:43 It opened very quiet again. Ligia scored in the 20th minute.
00:46 An even better goal from Ernest Mucci to make it 1-1.
00:49 The rest of the first half, pretty quiet atmosphere again.
00:52 Very strange because fans didn't really know what was going on.
00:55 We did as journalists, but no club statement from either club until,
01:00 well, I think into the second half.
01:02 Potentially something from Ligia, but definitely not from Villa.
01:04 More just statements from police and a lot of uncertainty.
01:07 But what we did know was no Ligia fans were allowed into the stadium whatsoever
01:11 throughout any of the game.
01:12 It wasn't just the opening stages, but any of it at all.
01:15 Completely empty at wey-end.
01:16 I think that did help Villa a little bit in terms of the atmosphere being in their favour.
01:20 But at the same time, I suppose Villa Park was a bit quieter than it usually would be.
01:25 Anyway, back to the actual action on the field.
01:27 Alex Moreno, who was back for his first start of the season after a lengthy hamstring injury,
01:32 scored his first goal for the club.
01:34 A very nice volley from a Douglas Luiz free kick.
01:37 It came in from right-hand side quite deep.
01:40 Moreno hit it first time into the net to make it 2-1.
01:43 From that point on, Villa knew if they scored another,
01:45 they'd be guaranteed to top the group, but they weren't able to get that goal.
01:48 Leon Bailey went closest as he hit the underside of the bar with a delicate chip,
01:52 but it wasn't to be.
01:53 But still, four wins in a row for Unai Emery's team in Europe.
01:57 Another win here at Villa Park, and they can get the job done
02:00 with just a point against Mosta next time out.
02:02 time out