Aiming to follow up their Villa Park heroics of earlier this month, Aston Villa return to Champions League action on Tuesday night, when they play host to Bologna.
Italy's draw specialists - who will arrive in Birmingham with just one win across all competitions this season - have picked up only one point in UEFA's new league phase, while their fellow newcomers have posted a perfect record so far.
Match preview
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Replicating their famous feat of 1982 - when they were crowned European champions for the only time to date - Aston Villa turned back the clock to beat mighty Bayern Munich in their first Champions League home fixture, with a committed defensive performance being capped off by a moment of magic from their reliable super-sub.
When Bayern's veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer strayed off his line, a superb Pau Torres pass provided the assist for Jhon Duran to loft home an inch-perfect winner, putting Villa on maximum points after two matches.
Unai Emery's men had previously cruised to a 3-0 victory over Young Boys in Switzerland, and another win this week would see Villa's Basque boss record his 25th success in the Champions League, becoming only the fifth Spanish manager to achieve that feat, after Pep Guardiola, Rafa Benitez, Vicente del Bosque and Luis Enrique.
Furthermore, the Villans could become only the third team to win their opening three games in UEFA's top club tournament without conceding, following in the footsteps of Malaga in 2012 and Leicester City four years later.
Of course, such statistics will be of little importance to the meticulous Emery, who has managed to defy the doubters so far by keeping his side among the Premier League's top six.
After trailing to an early goal against Fulham, another Villa fightback - aided by goals from Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers, plus a penalty save from Emi Martinez - helped the second-city club extend their unbeaten streak to nine games on Saturday.
In fact, a tally of 17 points from eight league matches represents their best start to a top-flight season since 1998, teeing them up nicely for a first-ever meeting with fellow Champions League debutants Bologna.
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While the visitors' have suffered only one loss since the end of August - at the hands of Premier League pace-setters Liverpool - there may be a very different mood in Bologna's camp ahead of their latest midweek trip to England.
Following a summer of change, the Rossoblu find themselves occupying 13th place in the Serie A standings, and new coach Vincenzo Italiano has won just one of 10 matches to date - including a disappointing draw with Genoa last time out.
Even though goals from Riccardo Orsolini and Jens Odgaard put them in control at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday evening, they proceeded to let two points slip during the final 20 minutes and were ultimately forced to settle for a single point.
That was the Emilian club's seventh share of the spoils this season, and it has been a similar story all year long: across Europe's top five leagues, only Italian counterparts Juventus have drawn more games in 2024.
Having kicked off their long-awaited return to Europe's top table with a goalless draw against Shakhtar Donetsk, they could now become the first side not to score in any of their first three Champions League fixtures since Austria Vienna did so in 2013.
Therefore, taking even one goal and one point back home to Emilia-Romagna would surely represent a success for Italiano and co on Tuesday night.
Team News
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After being besieged by injuries just before the international break, Unai Emery has recently been able to welcome back some familiar faces - in addition to a couple of long-term absentees.
Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings are both available after spending several months on the sidelines with major knee injuries, while Villa captain John McGinn returned from a hamstring problem to make a cameo appearance at the weekend.
Emery may rotate his resources again, but Ollie Watkins remains favourite to start up front - consigning Jhon Duran to the bench - and in-form forward Morgan Rogers has made himself almost undroppable.
Both scored again on Saturday, while the latter has completed more dribbles than any other player in the Champions League this season (nine), with five coming against Bayern Munich last time out.
Meanwhile, Bologna must hope to recover some of the men forced to sit out their draw with Genoa, as Switzerland internationals Dan Ndoye and Michel Aebischer belatedly joined Villa-owned winger Samuel Iling-Junior and Croatian centre-back Martin Erlic on the sidelines.
Nicolo Cambiaghi, Oussama El Azzouzi and Lewis Ferguson are definitely ruled out - though the latter is now back in full training - so Vincenzo Italiano has fewer attacking options to choose from.
Up front, teenage striker Santiago Castro is set to beat Thijs Dallinga to selection, while captain Riccardo Orsolini could feature on the right flank, having just registered his first away goal in Serie A since January.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; McGinn, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins
Bologna possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Lucumi, Miranda; Freuler, Moro; Orsolini, Fabbian, Karlsson; Castro
We say: Aston Villa 1-0 Bologna
Compared to recent contests at Villa Park, this may be more of a low-key encounter, as Bologna are likely to take a cautious approach.
Though Aston Villa still have defensive vulnerabilities, the Rossoblu often fail to capitalise on their chances - and that lack of firepower could cost them again.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
