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Key events
Here’s Ben Fisher’s report from Villa Park.
Unai Emery was speaking to TNT Sports: “Very happy, we were dominating some of the match. The action is clear was the interpretation of the referee. In England, soft, not contact. At the beginning he was giving us the goal but we have to accept it. We played a serious match. We tried to avoid the mistakes of the previous match. We were closer to winning the match. This is a fantastic save. They are building a team, in the process but very difficult to play against. More of less it was a very tight match. Three wins, one draw and one defeat is very good. There’s always the possibility of getting in the top eight.”
The table after Matchday 5: Villa are just outside the top eight. Juve, just two points behind, are down among the scrabblers. This is tight going into the last three matches.
More from Ollie Watkins: “I thought it was soft. It had 0-0 written all over it, so it would have been lucky had we won it. Referees don’t let things go in this competition as much in the Premier League. I have to be careful with what I say, but it’s out of our control really.”
He’s being diplomatic. That was not a penalty. Di Gregorio showed off his theatrical skills and Thiago Motta couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s soft, maybe you know. In the Premier League it’s a goal,” says Ollie Watkins. He admits it would have been a lucky win. “It had 0-0 written all over it,”
Full-time: Aston Villa 0-0 Juventus
It will be recalled for Morgan Rogers’ late goal being ruled out. It looked unjust and Juventus look very happy to get away with it. Thiago Motta has a broad smile. Villa fans are incandescent. They wuz robbed, though perhaps it wasn’t the best performance.
Goal ruled out! It finishes 0-0.
90+5 min: Juve claim their goalie was fouled. Diego Carlos was on the scene but that was no foul. Is VAR in session? It seems so. But it’s hard to say. The referee has given a free-kick…booooo. That was a terrible decision.
Goal! Aston Villa 1-0 Juventus (Rogers, 90+4)
90+3 min: Last chance, free-kick. Austin McPhee dishes the instructions. The ball is pumped at Di Gregorio who drops the ball. Rogers takes it down and…scores.
90+2 min: Mbangula goes on a mazy run but runs into traffic. Diego Carlos comes away with it, four men to his flank. Can he find them? No? Koopmeiners is booked for a tactical foul.
90 min: Three minutes added on. Chances at both ends? Rogers loses the ball twice as he carries it forward.
89 min: Locatelli with a lovely move. He’s a lovely player. Eventually, Villa get it away with Rogers making a driving run. Villa still can’t make Di Gregorio make a save.
87 min: Duran, at last, gets involved. But he has very little company as he sets off for goal. The ball is smacked away and it’s soon back with Pau Torres
85 min: Duran has been a passenger so far. Juve have him well marked. The price of being notorious as a sub. Another Juve sub: on goes Fagioli for Thuram, Philogene is on too, for Villa.
84 min: Some Juve panic as the defenders try to play their way out and Villa force the ball to Rogers. Emery is not impressed by the resultant shot.
83 min: Juve change: Yildiz off, Mbangula on.
81 min: Rogers heads the next behind when Conceicao is lurking. The next corner is cleared. Can Villa counter? Yes, but slowly.
80 min: How do those changes affect the game? Initially, it’s a case of Juventus looking more comfortable. Rogers, a big lad, fouls Conceicao, a small lad. The free-kick fizzes in and a corner results.
78 min: Weah is booked now, and here come the subs. Duran and Barkley for Watkins and Kamara.
77 min: Martin Gamage gets in touch: “I’m intrigued that this MBM has morphed into a discussion of the genius that is Robert Fripp. I’m a big fan of the early ‘80s Adrian Belew era King Crimson. That trio of albums (Discipline/Beat/Three of a Perfect Pair) is as good a run of three successive albums as anyone’s produced … ever.”
75 min: Tielemans has a dig at goal but Di Gregorio comes across, having read what was a bit of scraped shot.
74 min: The ref booed for delaying the arrival of Villa’s subs. The ball stays in play, both teams attempting attacks but being unable to create much of note.
72 min: Kamara, Tielemans and Kamara attempt a passing move…but there’s a communication breakdown. Villa are the flatter of the two but here come the cavalry.
70 min: Oh no! McGinn has the goal begging. Bailey lays it on a plate but he can’t beat Di Gregorio. Some credit for the keeper but it needed far more gas. He’s shaking his head…in fact, it was Locatelli getting back to clear.
68 min: Big noise from the Juve fans. Their team beginning to fancy this. Conceicao continues to be a real pest. Villa and Digne have stopped him so far,
66 min: Danilo, once of Manchester City, replaces Savona in Juventus’ first change.
65 min: Brilliant save from Martinez. Koopmeiners’ corner, Conceicao’s header and Martinez claws it from behind the line. Juve think it’s over the line but the ref’s watch was not triggered. No goal. What a keeper Martinez can be.
64 min: Bailey in space but Gatti, who has been great, steps across. Real classy, Italian-style. Italians do it better, as that t-shirt used to say.
62 min: Like Koopmeiners, Watkins is in a world of frustration. In this tight game, down that blocked middle, it’s almost impossible to find room.
60 min: Kári Tulinius: “To go to the other end of the virtuoso scale from Robert Fripp… I can’t find an exact publication date, but with songs about Kennedy’s brain and a druggy Santa, David Peel and the Lower East Side’s 1974 album Santa Claus Rooftop Junkie is spiritually of November. Either way, it’s proto-punk at its rough and tumble finest.”
John Lennon a supporter, if I am not mistaken.
58 min: Thuram at last finds a way to go forward, tries to shoot but misses badly. Koopmeiners, supposed to be leading the Villa line has hardly had a kick.
56 min: Locatelli blocks Kamara, then kicks the ball away. No yellow. The Villa fans enraged. They decide they are going to referee the game from now. They call for a pull in the box. But nothing doing. The real ref isn’t having it.
55 min: Rogers is sent away but also gets caught out by a skidding ball.
54 min: Juventus yet to find anything like the rhythm of the first half, and that wasn’t exactly scintillating, either. Yildiz falls over on the greasy surface.
52 min: Big argument over who is taking this one…Bailey blams it somewhere in the vicinity of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Digne is miffed.
51 min: Instead, Tielemans is fouled after Rogers’ pass. Another free-kick chance. They’ve had chance to get in range.
50 min: Juve are trying their best to wind up Tielemans, Conceicao the main protagonist. He’s on a yellow, let us recall.
49 min: Juve want a penalty. But Pau Torres is ruled to have been unable to stop the ball coming in from Concecaio.
48 min: Paul Griffin gets in touch: This is one of Fripp’s greatest moments. And is arguably one of the most compelling explanations of genius ever delivered: . I love that Visconti starts with an intention to come across as a little modest, self-effacing even, then decides to REDACTED that and wallows in Fripp, Eno, kissing by the wall, the Atlantic horns, all of it. Don’t blame him.
47 min: It’s a short corner. One off the training ground but Villa have to recycle, McGinn sending Digne back away but his cross is collected, at the second attempt.
Back away at Villa Park
46 min: Villa look to make a fast start, forcing a corner through Digne.
Villa take the field to the tune of Ozzy’s Crazy Train. That’s a bit more like it.
Phil Brennan gets in touch: “Court and Spark, On the Beach and Grevious Angel for me. Oh, and Queen ll.”
Have three of them. Sorry, Freddie.
Spotter’s badge to Ben Fisher who called this one in our pages on Sunday. Ben’s our man at Villa Park, too.
Half-time: Aston Villa 0-0 Juventus
A half that got better, a clash of styles where the other is attempting to pick off the other. Ollie Watkins’ shot was the best Villa effort while Yildiz and Concecaio were the pick of a Juve attack that lacks a focal point.
45 min: Cheers as Kalulu is booked for fouling Watkins for a free-kick. It’s in a dangerous position…Digne’s left boot scoops it up and out.
“My name is Kalulu
My first rule of thumb
I don’t say were I’m going
Or where I’m coming from.”
As the lads undoubtedly sing. That moment – the free-kick, not the song – brings the curtain down on the first half.
44 min: This has been a most even affair. Just what you’d expect for two teams in mid-table of the Champions League ladder. You know, maybe this thing is good after all.
42 min: More of the game swinging one way and another. Concecaio sees a gap, but Martinez reads the shot well at the near post.
40 min: Richard Hirst is in: “Pretzel Logic yes, Bright Lights yes, but Red? Loved early Crimson, but those 73/74 albums……… seeing them around the time of Starless was the only concert I’ve left early.” I feel the same about later, Adrian Belew-standard Crimson. Fripp is a genius but beyond his Bowie stuff, is the definition of difficult artist.
39 min: Pau Torres fouls Weah, he’d left himself too much ground to make up. That’s a yellow.
37 min: Best effort yet. Kamara digs out the shot and Watkins makes room for himself to crack the ball at goal. A fine save from Di Gregorio, and from the corner Cash attempts to smash a second ball in. Juve clear and go away through Weah. He fires wide. It’s opening up yet more.
35 min: Juventus attempt a passing sweep across Villa. Cambiaso’s shot ends it, and Motta looks appalled by how poor and effort it is. In truth, the Villa defenders left him with no room other than for the spectacular.
33 min: The centre of the pitch is as congested as Spaghetti Junction at 6pm on a Wednesday. No quarter given, either. Just like driving in Brum, actually.
31 min: Tielemans attempts to find Watkins, but out steps Gatti, who looks a commanding type. Boos as Bailey is fouled by Cambiaso, who isn’t booked. Then boos as the free-kick is blocked. This one is tetchy
30 min: Concecaio is yet to get the better of Digne but looks Juve’s most likely to.
28 min: Big noise from the Villa fans, trying to encourage on their team. Theres’ a dip in mood when Matty Cash is penalised for accidental handball. This is not an easy assignment.
26 min: Juve lifting the tempo, Concecaio the out-ball, Locatelli becoming ever more influential.
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