Aston Villa 2 AZ Alkmaar 1: Watkins continues stunning Villa Park form to secure come-from-behind triumph
OLLIE WATKINS’ fifth goal in six European ties set Villa up for a Group E showdown with Legia Warsaw.
But Unai Emery‘s men had to come from behind to grind out their 15th win in 16 games at their Villa Park fortress.
Trailing to Vangelis Pavlidis’ shock second-half opener, Villa battled back to equalise through Diego Carlos who opened his account for the club with his first ever goal in Europe.
And as Alkmaar battled in vain to hold on for a point Watkins slayed them by heading home Douglas Luiz‘s cross to grab his fifth goal in his last six games at Villa Park.
Earlier Legia Warsaw had cranked up the pressure by beating Zrinjski Mostar to open up a three point lead at the top of Group E.
That seemed to fire up the home side, who flew out of the blocks and thought they had made the perfect start when they had the ball in the net after three minutes.
Leon Bailey‘s deep corner picked out Watkins whose header was cleared off the line by Vangelis Pavlidis.
The ball landed back at Bailey’s feet and this time the winger’s cross was headed home by Clement Lenglet.
However a VAR check ruled that Bailey was offside from Watkins’ original header and the goal was chalked off.
Alkmaar dangerman Pavlidis showed the confidence of a man currently joint top-scorer in the Eredivisie when he gathered a loose Lucas Digne pass and tried a cheeky chip from 40 yards.
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But despite beating Martinez the ball drifted narrowly wide.
Otherwise it was generally one-way traffic towards Mat Ryan’s goal as the Aussie goalie pushed away a Youri Tielemans shot before Bailey had an effort headed off the six-yard line by Bruno Martins Indi.
Alkmaar finished the half strongly and managed to beat Martinez three minutes before the break.
But three Alkmaar players were offside when Sven Mijnans collected Jordy Clasie’s pass and squared for Pavlidis to knock the ball into the empty net.
However Alkmaar finally sprang Villa’s offside trap to take a shock lead seven minutes after the break.
Pavlidis timed his run onto Riechedly Bazoer’s through ball to perfection and raced clear of Lenglet to clip the ball beyond Martinez.
Villa were in trouble but swiftly equalised with a controversial leveller nine minutes later.
Boubacar Kamara missed a sitter when he fired Ollie Watkins’ cut-back wide from four yards.
But somehow Villa were awarded a corner and when Bailey’s delivery came in Diego Carlos rose highest to steer his header beyond Ryan – to the fury of Alkmaar’s protesting players.
But Villa weren’t finished and Watkins broke Dutch hearts with his late winning header.