AZ Alkmaar 1 Aston Villa 4: Unai Emery’s side run riot in Netherlands as Villans continue impressive start to season
ASTON VILLA returned to the Netherlands for the first time since their famous European Cup win in Rotterdam in 1982.
And they pulled off a performance Peter Withe, Nigel Spink and Co would have been proud of.
Forty-one years on from their greatest glory night, Unai Emery’s men finally got their act together in Europe this season.
The Premier League high-flyers produced a display which will have convinced their 950 travelling fans this could be their year again.
It may be Europe’s third-tier competition, but Villa were a class above the Eredivisie’s second-top team who remain unbeaten domestically.
They gave Alkmaar a lesson in finishing – scoring four goals from their first five shots at goal.
Yet this tie got off to an extraordinary start as Villa goalie Emi Martinez played cat and mouse with Alkmaar’s forwards.
The Argentine World Cup winner stood defiantly, ball at his feet, yards outside his box, daring dangerman Vangelis Pavlidis, Ibrahim Sadiq and Myron van Brederode to come and get it.
They refused and the Mexican stand-off continued for fully 90 seconds to the fury of home fans, before Pavlidis eventually crept forward and Martinez easily played around him.
That patient approach would have delighted boss Emery who had even more to smile about when Villa seized an early lead after 13 minutes.
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Leon Bailey initially cursed himself for squandering a good opening after Boubacar Kamara picked him out at the edge of the box.
On that occasion, a poor first touch allowed Riechedly Bazoer to recover and dispossess him.
But the Jamaican forward swiftly made amends as he fired Villa in front seconds later.
Kamara swept the ball forward and despite it bouncing awkwardly, Bailey tamed it and lashed it beyond Mat Ryan from just inside the box.
It was the forward’s sixth goal of the season, his third in Europe and it gave Villa the confidence to seize this game by the scruff of the neck.
Alkmaar had pinned their hopes on their Greek international striker Pavlidis who had scored 13 goals in nine games, including a hat-trick at the weekend.
However, the 24-year-old squandered his first big opening when he beat Lucas Digne and Diego Carlos, only to shoot straight at Martinez.
Villa kindly showed him how it should be done as they doubled their lead midway through the half.
Captain John McGinn pounced on a loose pass from Sven Mijnans and delivered a sublime pass to Youri Tielemans.
The Belgian calmly drilled the ball between Ryan’s legs to celebrate his first goal for Villa since his summer move from Leicester City.
It was all so easy but Villa briefly decided to live dangerously when Kamara was robbed at the edge of the box but again Pavlidis squandered the chance as he fired over.
The Greek did have the ball in the net after 32 minutes but he was flagged offside after straying just too far forward to get on the end of Van Brederode’s cross.
Villa moved through the gears after the break, adding a third when Bailey’s shot was palmed out by Ryan, leaving in-form Ollie Watkins with a simple tap-in for his sixth goal in six games for club and country.
Then McGinn capped a brilliant performance, bursting into the Alkmaar six-yard box to stab Bailey’s low cross beyond Ryan.
That deadly finish clocked up Villa’s 16th goal in five games.
The only disappointment for perfectionist Emery came when Alkmaar grabbed a consolation goal when Sadiq beat Martinez with a sensational strike from the edge of the box.