Buenos Aires, April 9 (NA) – Aston Villa shocked Bologna 3-1 away in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals. With Argentina's goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez starting, the Villans secured a victory with goals from Ezri Konsa in the 44th minute and Ollie Watkins, who scored twice, in the 6th and 49th minutes of the second half. Meanwhile, Jonathan Rowe had pulled one back for the Italians in the 45th minute of the second half, according to the Argentine News Agency. With this result, the English side is on the brink of qualifying for the semi-finals, which they will aim to seal on Thursday, April 16, at 16:00 at Villa Park. Although Emery's team took the lead in the first leg, the match was evenly contested and could have even ended in a victory for the home side. The team led by Vincenzo Italiano hit the woodwork twice, once in each half, and couldn't close the gap on the scoreboard, but they did have a slight edge in the game. With four shots on target for each team, Aston Villa managed it with 8 total shots, while Bologna had 19 attempts to find the back of the net. In other matches of the day, Nottingham Forest (England) and Porto (Portugal) drew 1-1, while Freiburg (Germany) secured a convincing 3-0 victory over Celta de Vigo (Spain). Likewise, Braga (Portugal) and Real Betis (Spain) also could not get past a 1-1 draw.
