Donyell Malen scored twice in Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Young Boys in the Europa League, but his night was ruined when he was hit in the head by a missile due to crowd problems in the away end.
Malen’s two first-half goals made it an almost routine night on the field for Unai Emery’s in-form side, but substitute Joel Monteiro’s stoppage-time goal after a VAR check gave the Premier League side a brief scare in the closing stages.
But for Villa, the turmoil off the field was bigger than what happened on the field. While celebrating Mullen’s first goal, Young Boys supporters threw objects, leading to further chaos as police attempted to remove many of the objects.
Seats were among the objects thrown at police as Young Boys captain Loris Benito struggled to calm the crowd. The incident delayed the restart after Mullen scored his second goal late in the first half, but play continued soon after.
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Sky Sports’ Rob Jones explains why there was crowd confusion in the first half
The Dutchman’s performances as a midfield substitute for Ollie Watkins could help him earn a regular spot in the Villa side. Malen has scored in three of the last four games and was instrumental in the comeback after playing away at Leeds.
Emery’s understanding of Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rodgers, who provided assists for the first and second goals respectively, was a plus for Emery. Especially with the return of Tielemans, Villa will look more dangerous in possession.
The favorites have now won four of five games in the Europa League and are on course to advance to the knockout stages and claim the prize, which Emery has already won four times in his career. Villa resume their Premier League campaign on Sunday with a home match against Wolves.
“Unpleasant scene”
Villa Park’s Rob Jones’ verdict on Sky Sports is below.
“For the first 40 minutes of the game it was a very friendly atmosphere. The Young Boys fans were making a good noise. There was plenty of energy, but when Aston Villa scored the first goal, the atmosphere on that side of the stadium changed.
“After scoring a goal, Donyell Mullen ran towards the Young Boys fans, but not in a hostile manner. He wasn’t that close, but as he ran to that side of the ground, a number of objects were thrown at him by the visiting supporters, one of which apparently hit Mullen in the head.”
“He ended the first half with a clear cut on his head and bleeding, scoring the second goal.
“He scored the second goal and ran towards the same side of the ground but was nowhere near the Young Boys supporters. They tried their best to throw something at him but he was too far away.
“After that happened, the argument became even more heated between the stewards and the Young Boys fans inside the ground. At first there were plastic cups being thrown, but then at least two or three pale blue seats were thrown by the Young Boys supporters.”
“Stewards then joined the supporters in the front right of the stand and the match was delayed as two or three supporters were sent off.
“What we saw was quite unpleasant.”
Young Boys Coach: I’m sorry.
Young Boys head coach Gerardo Seoane spoke at a press conference about the crowd incident that disrupted the game against Aston Villa.
“I think it’s normal when you score a goal to want to celebrate with your teammates. Maybe it was a small provocation, I don’t know. The fans may have taken it as a provocation, but I think it’s part of football. The fans shouldn’t react so violently.”
“The referee told the captain to go to the supporters. He went there to calm things down a bit. I think some supporters came down to talk to them and the police reacted as if they were going to rush onto the pitch, which was not their intention. This is what I know and I think they reacted a little too early.”
“It’s unfortunate for everyone to provoke, to throw things, to think that someone was going to jump onto the pitch. I don’t think it’s a good outcome for anyone and of course I apologize. It doesn’t feel good.
“That’s not usually how our supporters want to behave when they’re guests somewhere. I think in the end no one wins and in this situation everyone loses.”
Emery: We have to learn from this.
At the press conference Emery spoke more succinctly about the crowd issue. “We need respect on both sides. We don’t need a moment like today.” He also confirmed that Mullen was not seriously injured.
Emery said Villa had taken a “step forward” with their performance but felt there were lessons to be learned. “When we won 2-0, we were consistent but not ruthless. We didn’t really take advantage of the chances to score extra goals,” he said.
“We relaxed a little bit in the second half. A team like Young Boys, with experienced players, European experience and a team that never gives up, can score like they did and put us in trouble. We deserved it (the win), but we have to learn how to avoid this in the future.”
Villa victory in statistics
Over the past three major European campaigns (since the start of 2023-24), Aston Villa have won more home games than any other team (15 wins, 13 losses, 1 draw and 1 loss). Young Boys are without a win in any of their seven European tours (D2 losses, 5 draws), only avoiding defeat with draws against Liverpool (2-2 in the UEFA Europa League in November 2012) and Man United (1-1, 1-1 in the UEFA Champions League). Donyell Malen has scored (5 goals) or provided an assist (1 assist) in five of his last six appearances for club and country, but all six of his goals for Aston Villa in all competitions this season have come at Villa Park. Since the competition was rebranded in 2009-10, no player has scored more goals in the UEFA Europa League without registering a single assist than Aston Villa’s Donyell Malen (12 goals, 0 assists – tied with Fernando Torres & Youssef En-Nesyri) Aston Villa provoked six offsides tonight and have caught their opponents offside 70 times in all competitions this season, more than any other Premier League team (Chelsea are next with 53). Young Boys scored with the only shot on target of the game at 89:44.
