In the semi-finals of the Conference League with hero Martines and waiting for Olympiakos or Fener, Aston Villa!

Withstood the pressure of battle Lil and qualified for the semi-finals of this year’s Conference League with Emiliano Martines as its hero in the penalty shoot-out Aston Villa!

Emery’s side faced a lot of difficulties, seeing the hosts take a qualifying score (2-0) in the 68th minute, but they managed to reduce to 2-1 and to send the match to overtime thanks to a goal by Cass in the 87th minute, managing to prevail with 4-3 in the penalty shootout, with the Argentinian goalkeeper saving two shots! Thus, he qualified for the semi-finals, where he awaits Olympiakos or Fenerbahce.

The encounter at the ‘Pierre-Mauroy’ started with Aston Villa entering the pitch prioritizing their defensive duties and Lille being superior. In fact, the hosts were lucky to take the lead and equalize the score of the first match in the first good chance they created, with Goodmundson to forcefully make the drifting turn from the left and with Yazitsi to “execute” him Martins with an ideal place in traffic!

After the first 25 minutes and after Martines impressively saved a close header AndreAston Villa responded, gaining more possession, but Lille remained the more threatening of the two teams, and characteristically, the visitors went to the dressing room without a final effort.

Seconds into the second half, Lille missed a great chance to take a qualifying lead, with Haraldson to steal the ball from the careless Tielemans, but to place just wide of Martines’ right-hand post. The visitors came close to scoring in the 57th minute, with McGinn finding the back of the net with a superb backheel. Mrsbut he shot hard and missed from a vantage point.

In the end, it was Lille who found a second goal in the 67th minute, taking the lead after a corner Haraldson and his head Andre, with the ball hitting the posts twice before ending up in the net for 2-0! Aston Villa then took steps on the field, managing to score in the 87th minute when Chevalier collided with Bedaleb losing the ball through his hands, while in the development of the phase the Mrs shot from distance, scoring and sending the match to extra time, after Diacate failed to make it 3-1 for Lille in the 90’+4, sending the ball into the arms of Martines with a header from contact and following a Haraldsson corner .

In the extra half-hour, Villa… came up short, missing a great double chance in the 100′, when Chevalier denied the goal initially to Bailey and then to Douglas Lewis, while in the 108th minute, Lille answered, with Andre shooting just wide. In the 120th minute, Chevalier saved Duran’s close-range shot and the match went to penalties.

There, Mr Martins saved Bentaleb and Andre’s penalties, Tielemans, Watkins, Cass and Douglas Lewis scored for Aston Villa, who qualified and now await the winner of the Olympiacos-Fenerbahce match in the semi-finals.