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New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Aston Villa's 2024-25 reviewed: Beating Bayern, the Wembley fail and a half-time spat that backfired
Another season of Unai Emery at Aston Villa and another year of securing European football. Villa have completed the set. Conference League in the first season, Champions League in the second — maybe ahead of schedule — and Europa League in the third. This final one may bring slightly less pleasure, given it does not align with Emery's desire for incremental progress, and it came from missing out on the Champions League due to goal difference and a controversial refereeing decision. Advertisement But football is rarely straightforward and, regardless, Villa are consistently qualifying for Europe. Here The Athletic dissects an unforgettable 2024-25 season, when Villa trod new ground but suffered familiar disappointments… The Champions League nights. The Tifos. The lights. The fireworks. The sheer noise. The Holte End. All of it majestic. Villa's return to Europe's premier competition delivered some of the most prestigious and ear-splitting matches in recent club history, creating memories for supporters, family members and friends, just as Villa's past European campaigns had. Right, don't head straight for the comments because I know what you'll say: 'No, the Bayern Munich game.' And you would be well within your rights to say that. But patience, please. The game of the season was the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park. Villa were 5-2 down on aggregate at half-time and so very nearly came back to produce one of the most utterly thrilling back-from-the-brink wins in Champions League history. Emery's very own La Remontada. John McGinn lit the fuse and was a man possessed: head down, scurrying and smashing anything and anyone in sight. Marcus Rashford blew in like a hurricane for a quarter of an hour and PSG, the wonderful, mercurial team, were battered. A Youri Tielemans header, an Ezri Konsa flick or a Marco Asensio one-on-one could have been the difference. Alas, PSG clung on, helped by the referee limiting stoppage time to three minutes. That night was the most remarkable collective effort from Emery's side and maybe the best isolated half in a generation. Remember early season Jhon Duran? Yeah, we'll never forget him, even if Villa's goal-of-the-season shortlist does not include any of his efforts. His 'oh well, I'm just gonna smash this' thunderbolt to complete a comeback against Everton was quintessential Duran. BREAKING: Jhon Duran's incredible strike against Everton is the Guinness Goal of the Month for September 🚀 — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 11, 2024 The win against Bayern wrote a new chapter in Villa's history. The whole evening was fitting. Villa's first home Champions League tie and a 1-0 win, the same score as the 1982 European Cup final. Duran's dink — a goal endlessly replayed and with the Titanic soundtrack over the top — imprinted into minds. Advertisement And Villa Park has rarely experience the level of noise that greeted the full-time whistle. Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-final. How utterly passive and dismal Villa were in letting a monumental opportunity to win silverware slip away. 'VAR is not a tool to protect or to be under any ego, any system or any individual,' Unai Emery wrote in his programme notes following Duran's unfortunate Boxing Day sending-off against Newcastle United. 'VAR cannot be overused to break the spirit of the game.' Hear, hear. I've done some shape-shifting here. This could easily fall under the 'Did that really happen?' category. But for crowbarring purposes, it has to be Tyrone Mings deciding to pick up the ball inside his box at Club Brugge. Mings' handball turned out to be decisive in a 1-0 defeat and Emery, speaking in a hurried post-match press conference, partially blamed his team's loss on the incident. 'It's completely strange,' he said. 'It is the biggest mistake we've made in my career as a coach.' Club Brugge are awarded a penalty after Tyrone Mings picks the ball up inside his own area 😳 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 6, 2024 Everyone in a wifi-less press box and with no replays available had little idea what had just happened, with the dismay continuing for the rest of the game. The whole episode was frankly bizarre. Palace are turning into Villa's bogey-team and have left haunting, if somewhat funny, memories. Away at Selhurst Park, halfway through a dire display that would result in a 4-1 defeat, deputy goalkeeper Robin Olsen was told to warm up. So Olsen started catching crosses from the wings. Unbeknownst to him, however, there was a problem. He was in the way of Palace's half-time entertainment, comprising a group of young children shooting into the goal. The stadium presenter asked the 'keeper to step to one side, but the Sweden international declined. Advertisement 'We shall not be moved,' sang the away end. Home supporters retaliated with boos. Less than an hour later, that same sound followed Olsen as he trudged down the tunnel, having shipped three goals. The whole thing was so odd, exacerbated by the silliness of Villa on the night, that it seems quite funny in hindsight. PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the first leg in Paris and Palace's Adam Wharton at Wembley. Both dominant. Emery has overseen some cautiously bodged performances this season — Club Brugge, Monaco, Ipswich Town (twice) and Crystal Palace (four times) — while, mirroring the team, producing some masterminded victories. It was always going to be difficult to qualify for the Champions League again, but he has largely handled the increased expectations well and navigated tricky spells. Villa's end-of-season form was exceptional but ultimately they were left with too much to do after six wins in 21 league matches between September and February. Still, a third straight season in Europe is some going. A sub-par first half of the league campaign will be forgotten about in years to come, with the nights against Bayern Munich and PSG the overriding recollections. So for that reason, he gets an eight out of 10. Who goes and who stays. Lots of business and invariably underpinned by Villa being mindful of PSR. 'Do you remember when former president of business operations Chris Heck charged £92 for a ticket against Brighton & Hove Albion?'
New York Times
24-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
This is why Aston Villa signed Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio
A reluctant indulger of adulation, Marcus Rashford slowed to allow team-mates to move ahead. John McGinn and Emiliano Martinez, Aston Villa's key leaders, whipped up the Holte End. Relief abounded. Villa needed to beat Chelsea after drawing four of the last five league matches and taking 11 points from the previous eight. Advertisement Ultimately, they did, rousing themselves out of the all-too-familiar average start to come from behind and dig out a victory. Akin to a heavyweight boxer with a weak chin, defensive brittleness remained — though in Rashford and Marco Asensio, they had the power to retaliate. '(Rashford and Asensio need) to get confidence and feel they can adapt to our structure,' said Unai Emery. 'Today they did one step forward in their adaptation with us.' Outscoring the opposition appears to be the chief ploy from here on in, with defensive injuries and (dis)organisation unlikely to be fixed short term. The liberation felt after two big-money players delivered a big result was palpable. Rashford clapped supporters while Asensio stood hunched over, hands on knees and smiling. He had scored both goals in the 2-1 win — the first time he had scored more than once in a match since September 2021 when he notched a hat-trick for Real Madrid against Mallorca — with Rashford assisting. 'It helps us a lot when you see them linking up for both goals,' Youri Tielemans told Sky Sports. 'We know they are only loans but hopefully we can get more from them if they play well and help us to reach our goals.' Asensio, like Rashford, has the alluring ability to shift a team out of malaise with single moments of quality. Latterly, at their previous clubs, those moments were fleeting and patience eventually wore thin. Yet Emery often affords those he has faith in extra time on the pitch to, as he calls it, 'practice' and wait for their magic to resurface. Similar goodwill was extended from supporters and senior staff. Co-owner Nassef Sawiris was at Villa Park and waited for the players before they headed in from their warm-up. He smiled and shook each hand and sought out Rashford, who was starting on the bench, before exchanging a few words. Both Rashford and Asensio are in their honeymoon period, with their names cheered the loudest when read over the PA system and each time the ball is at their feet — particularly Rashford — there is an audible sense of anticipation. Advertisement Asensio immediately impressed team-mates in training. His deftness of touch and capacity to recognise attacking pictures ahead of him — even before they develop — was striking. Emery made it clear he would operate as a No 10 and, in doing so, move Morgan Rogers out of the position and towards the right, where he has licence to drift inside. Consequently, this flipped Villa's traditional build-up shape of the right-winger and the left-back providing the width on either flank to the polar opposite. There was also little doubt about where Rashford would play, in contrast to his final days at Manchester United. Emery told The Athletic his best position was in the left channel. 'It is important they are playing and adapting quickly,' said Emery. 'They are versatile players. Marcus can play left side, up front. We usually play two No 10s and Marco can play both positions — he played fantastic.' Emery was decisive in his plans for both, owing to how long the pair had enamoured him. He had seen Asensio over the years for Real Madrid and was kept informed of his progress through his previous connections at Paris Saint-Germain, where the midfielder had moved. Sources close to Asensio, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, insist one of the fundamental reasons he chose Villa was Emery's insistence that he would operate as a No 10, which is regarded as his 'natural position' and one he has not played regularly since his year on loan to Espanyol in the 2015-16 season. GO DEEPER Marco Asensio's Aston Villa arrival - and a chance to put his career back on track The first half against Chelsea charted Villa's season: flat, void of stability and the same defensive issues lingering. 'Very bad' was Emery's assessment. Pedro Neto turned Ian Maatsen inside out and set up Enzo Fernandez to score, which left Villa stuck on three clean sheets in 27 matches. Neto's role as a floating No 9 unsettled the back line, isolating Tyrone Mings in the right channel and attacking the space Maatsen left. Advertisement Villa's urge to win was pressing. Another point would not suffice given the rewards and financial risks at stake. They are on the precipice with their wage-to-turnover astronomically high and Rashford and Asensio, though not permanent signings, are on significant salaries. Chelsea were a goal ahead yet vulnerable. Emery intended to pile pressure on their back four, pushing both full-backs high — a shift from his usual policy of keeping three defenders behind the ball in possession — and, pertinently, assimilating pace into the attack. Rashford came on at half-time with Donyell Malen and Leon Bailey later introduced. Rashford's presence altered Villa's attacking structure. He stayed close to the touchline, with Maatsen conservative in choosing when to overlap. This stretched Chelsea's defence, isolating right-back Malo Gusto and cultivating space for Asensio between the lines. Rashford offered a threat behind and Asensio's first instinct was to look for his runs. Looping crosses towards the back post went agonisingly close and the early connection proved a precursor to Asensio's equaliser, with Matty Cash supplying the ball to Rashford at the back post. Following a VAR check, the England international was judged onside, controlling Cash's cross to square for Asensio inside the six-yard box. Asensio brought the ice to the attacking fire. He added serenity to Villa's play, threading passes through to the sprinters and making late forays into the box. Intelligent movement for his second goal was picked out by Rashford, who had received the ball back having taken a short corner. In the 89th minute, Asensio's volley met Rashford's cross, on target and amply supported over the line by a goalkeeping mishap from Filip Jorgensen. It was enough to make Ozzy Osbourne, the Villa-supporting rock star, describe Asensio as a 'superstar' 0n X. He and Rashford were recruited for games precisely like this: to be the difference-makers. It was the second time Rashford had assisted the same player twice (Anthony Martial was the first in 2020) and helped increase Villa's total of points accrued from losing positions this season to 18, more than any other team. Villa's firepower is indisputable and the risk of going all in in the recent transfer window required their marquee signings to produce. Victory against Chelsea was the first step. GO DEEPER How Asensio's movement and positioning led to Villa's victory against Chelsea
