Barkley’s late goal gives Villa a stunning win

Aston Villa climbed to third in the Champions League table after Ross Barkley’s late goal earned them victory in a thrilling encounter in Germany.

Villa took an early lead through captain John McGinn but Luis Obinda equalized when Emiliano Martinez came out of position in the Villa goal.

Unai Emery brought on superstar John Doran for the first half and took just seven minutes to make his impact and put Aston Villa back in front.

Another turnover was ruled out for offside and moments after that goal was disallowed Christoph Baumgartner equalised.

A volatile second half saw Barkley come off the bench to win it and send Villa into third place, five points behind leaders Liverpool.

The top eight automatically qualify for the next stage and with games coming up against Monaco and Celtic, Emery’s men are a good bet to avoid needing a play-off round in their first outing in this competition.

Leipzig exited after losing all six of their matches.

Mission accomplished… finally 😅 #RBLAVL #UCL pic.twitter.com/PRD1Hi1Q3A

– Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 10, 2024

Villa took the lead when Matty Cash, playing in a more advanced position on the right, crossed to Ollie Watkins, who nodded into McGinn’s path and the captain made no mistake from close range.

This gave the visitors confidence and they had enough chances in the first 15 minutes to decide the match.

Lucas Digne’s cross from the left side needed to be converted, but Watkins was unable to connect from close range, and then Morgan Rogers shot directly at Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulaxy.

Youri Tielemans then found himself with time and space on the edge of the box from Watkins’ corner, but the Belgium international pulled wide disappointingly.

All that good work was undone in the 27th minute, as Martinez was left red-faced.

The Argentine was very casual waiting to receive Nikola Seewald’s long ball and Obinda volleyed first and slotted it into the empty net.

Doran was introduced on the break and was invited forward and fired a shot from 25 yards, before Baumgartner curled a shot from the far post across goal and into the corner.

Lucas Digne blocked a shot from Peter Gulacsi and then Obinda fired straight at Martinez as both teams pushed for the win.

It was Villa who got the goal when Barkley saw his deflected effort hit Golaxy’s wrong foot and hit the back of the net.

“It’s exciting to be in the top three.”

“I thought overall we were the better team and could have scored more,” Villa captain John McGinn told Amazon Prime. “We dealt with their problems well and what we needed today were substitutes to come in and make a difference.

“It’s exciting. It’s great to be in the top three.”