Aston Villa’s first Champions League game since 1982/83 saw them put in a very dominant performance away to Swiss champions Young Boys. The Villans earned a commanding 3-0 victory in Switzerland, thanks to goals from Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana.
Statistically, the Villans dominated the game, too. According to Sofascore, they had far more possession compared to the Swiss outfit after weathering an early storm and adapting to the plastic pitch, a tough surface to play on.
In total, Unai Emery’s side had 53% of the ball, compared to Young Boys’ 47%. Not only that, they had 20 shots to the Swiss champions’ 12 and registered seven on target, two more than their opponent.
Passes
363
405
Possession
47%
53%
Shots
12
20
Shots on target
5
7
Expected goals (xG)
0.59
2.13
It was unsurprisingly a dominant performance from the former European Cup winners, as they slotted seamlessly back into the biggest club competition in the continent.
The visitors can certainly be happy with their night’s work, although there was still a lot to do for goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, who put in an impressive showing against the Swiss outfit.
Emi Martinez’s stats vs Young Boys
Despite a good night’s work from his teammates, notably the three goalscorers, Martinez was tested fairly regularly and had to put in some crucial saves, particularly in the first half, in order to keep the score at 0-0. There were certainly some hairy moments for the Villans.
The Argentine World Cup winner had 54 touches of the ball and was forced into making five saves. Three of those stops came from shots inside the penalty box. The goalkeeper also completed 28 from 41 attempted passes.
It was a performance that earned Martinez a deserved 8/10 ranking from Goal journalist Richard Mills. The journalist was complimentary of his performance, explaining that the Villa number 23 was on hand to get “his team out of a couple of dangerous situations”.
The surface did not make it an easy pitch to play on for any goalkeeper, but Martinez made light worm of it. He negated a ball that could skid on unpredictably and ultimately managed to keep a clean sheet in Switzerland.
Whilst the former Arsenal goalkeeper had a good night, the same cannot be said for one Villa player, Lamar Bogarde, who had a tough evening and was substituted at half-time.
Lamar Bogarde’s stats vs Young Boys
After making two consecutive Premier League starts at right-back in the absence of the injured Matty Cash, it was a baptism of fire for 20-year-old Bogarde on Tuesday evening.
Whilst he did not make any calamitous mistakes, the youngster struggled to make an impact on the game and was subsequently replaced at the break by the more experienced Diego Carlos.
He had just 18 touches of the ball, 39 fewer than Martinez, completed eight from nine passes, and lost the ball three times. Boagrde also won just 50% of his ground duels in Switzerland, three from six in total.
His performance earned him a 6/10 rating from the aforementioned Mills, who noted that, whilst the youngster didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, “a couple of threatening Young Boys attacks happened on his side of the pitch”, suggesting they exploited his side.
Indeed, if Emery was to drop the youngster this weekend for the game against Wolves at Villa Park, there are two options as to who could replace him. The most obvious option is Carlos, who came on to replace him on Tuesday, but he could also turn to 18-year-old Serbian defender Kosta Nedeljkovic, who featured in their first three Premier League games of the season and stood out against Arsenal.
It remains to be seen which route the Spaniard chooses to go down, including showing faith in Bogarde and keeping him in the side. However, he will certainly be hoping his side can continue to build on an impressive win in their first Champions League game since 1982/83.
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