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