Aston Villa v Lille LIVE: UEFA Europa Conference League updates

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Aston Villa will take a 2-1 lead to Lille next week after emerging from their UEFA Europa Conference League first leg with a hard-fought victory at Villa Park.

Ollie Watkins was on the scoresheet yet again with a towering header, and captain John McGinn bagged Villa’s second with a curling shot from the edge of the box, with both goals coming from set-pieces.

But Villa did not have it all their own way against an attacking Lille outfit who forced Emiliano Martinez into a string of top saves, and also saw a goal ruled out by VAR for an extremely narrow offside.

And the visitors did finally bag the goal that their efforts deserved, with Bafode Diakite heading home from a corner to make it 2-1 on the night and keep the tie alive going into the second leg.

The winners of this tie will face either Olympiacos or Fenerbahce in the semi-finals, with the Greek side 3-2 up after their home leg of that tie.

This late header means that Lille trail by just a single goal going into the second leg.

This lovely effort from the Villa captain was his side’s second goal on the night:

Here’s how Ollie Watkins opened the scoring on the night for Villa:

Aston Villa lead 2-1 in this pulsating quarter-final tie thanks to goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn, but Lille’s late goal means we’ve got a belting second leg to look forward to next week.

Duran wins a corner and the home side have one final chance to get their big guys forward for a set-piece that could make a huge difference in this tie. But Lille defend it well and that will surely be the last of the action.

An indication of the late momentum is a booking for Villa goalkeeper Martinez for time wasting. He deserved it too; he was taking an absolute age to get a goal kick away.

Yazici very nearly levels it up in stoppage time as he opens up his body and curls a beautiful shot skimming just the wrong side of the post. That was so close to picking up the far top corner.

There will be six minutes of added time – certainly enough for a tie-defining goal.

The brilliance of Villa’s set-piece approach is on show again as Diego Carlos just misses a glancing header that would have restored his side’s two-goal advantage.

The goalscorer makes way as Lille make an attacking late change, searching for an equaliser to give them a huge boost ahead of the second leg.

Lille are back in it and deservedly so. A corner is whipped into a dangerous area and Diakite meets, sending his header into the far corner. That’s kept this tie very much alive, and Lille will be pushing for more.

A lovely move finds Andre in space on the edge of the box, but he takes too long to take his shot and the ball is deflected over the bar.

Villa do indeed turn to their bench, with Duran replacing Watkins.

The Villa boss knows what he’s doing in knockout football and he’s starting to try and shut this game down. More subs are on the way.

The French side have shown that they have goals in them, plenty of them, but they will want to get the deficit down before the second leg. Villa are in total control of the tie as things stand.

Digne and Bailey make way for Diaby and Moreno.

The Villa keeper makes two more close range saves as Lille pile on the pressure. He’s been an absolute rock tonight, the Argentine. Without him this tie would be in a very different place.

Here’s how Villa took control of the tie.