How much weight do Aston Villa want to place on a single 90 minutes in Istanbul?
Despite the jubilant celebrations following their advancement to their first European final since 1982, Aston Villa faces a stark reality check: Champions League qualification for next season is not yet guaranteed.
They should secure a spot in the top five of the Premier League. They should also triumph over Freiburg in the Europa League final that’s just over a week away. Either accomplishment would grant them UEFA’s coveted invitation to Europe’s elite competition.
Unai Emery expressed his sentiments by stating, “Very, very happy,” during his initial remarks after the 2-2 draw, leaving many puzzled by his optimism.
“A few months ago, you were questioning if we were title contenders when we were just a few points behind Manchester City,” Emery continued. “I told you then that on day 34, these questions wouldn’t be relevant… and now you’re not asking about it.”
Unai Emery left Turf Moor with more questions than answers after another tough away trip
Burnley made sluggish Villa pay the price and they were good value for their point in this draw
He added, “It’s incredible to be in this position. Being in the top five of the Premier League is a fantastic achievement for us. I realize today’s point isn’t enough, but I understand the challenge of securing three points here.”
Villa are not the same team that found themselves bombarded by title talk in the first half of the campaign. Even this uber-positive version of Emery knows that.
But natural order this season has been if you’ve got a problem and need a helping hand, come and pay a visit to Doctor Burnley.
Villa have a problem, too. This latest slip-up means Villa are winless in their last six away league games (D3, L3).
The last time they were this bad on the road it was an eight-game stretch between May to October in 2022, the final eight games before Emery took over.
But, this is a Burnley side with the worst home record in the league, having scored a league fewest 15 goals on their own turf, with two wins all season at Turf Moor. The last of those came 205 days ago against Leeds United when talk was just getting started about Halloween costumes.
And yet here was Villa, a side that looked like they’d have blown any team in the world away on Thursday, producing their own fright, in the end clinging on to a point that keeps Bournemouth and Brighton on their tails.
This was supposed to be the banker for Villa, who made only three alterations from the semi-final win over Forest and stuck with the big guns of Ollie Watkins, John McGinn and Morgan Rogers.
By contrast, Burnley interim boss Mike Jackson made six alterations from the team that got turned over by Leeds, one of which saw 21-year-old goalkeeper Max Weiss handed his Premier League debut.
‘We have not been good enough throughout the season, we know that,’ Jackson said. ‘But you can’t live in the past. You have to try and find a way as an individual, a team, as a group, to right what you do next.’
Four points would mathematically seal a top five spot and with it Champions League football. The idea Villa could sleepwalk into three of those points here blew up in their face inside 10 minutes.
Backing off Lesley Ugochukwu, Villa only had themselves to blame when Emi Martinez parried straight to Jaidon Anthony, who duly converted the rebound.
Martinez is a top goalkeeper, no one would deny that, but he’s picked up an odd habit of this exact thing this season, parrying right into the danger zone. By his standards, this was a costly mistake.
Emi Martinez’s error allowed Jaidon Anthony to open the scoring for Burnley nine minutes in
Ollie Watkins had one goal chalked off by VAR but his second saw Villa go into a 2-1 lead
But for as bad as this was for large spells, Villa looked to have salvaged the most precious of wins when, either side of half-time Ross Barkley headed in McGinn’s corner, and Watkins toe-poked in a 70-yard, route one kick from Martinez.
So, of course, they switched off again assuming the job was done and Burnley, inspired by the brilliant Hannibal Mejbri, punished them to leave Champions League hopes hanging in the balance.
This was a goal that is everything Burnley haven’t been this season. Inventive, incisive, sharp. Ugochukwu hustled to win the ball back wide on the left and picked out Mejbri in the box, who had the wherewithal to backheel to Zian Flemming, who had missed two huge chances earlier in this game.
And so it’s on to Liverpool on Friday night, days out from a first European final in 43 years, when rotation feels inevitable. Lose that and turn that pressure dial up to the max for Istanbul.
Talk about making life hard for yourselves.
