After a 1-1 tie with Zrinjski Mostar, Nicolo Zaniolo’s debut goal for Aston Villa helped them secure their spot in the Europa Conference League’s round of 16.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zaniolo gave a drastically altered Villa the lead shortly after the hour, but Matija Malekinusic’s incredible equalizer for the home team in the dying minutes.
Although Unai Emery’s team’s performance was far from impressive, the point was sufficient to guarantee Villa’s top spot in Group E ahead of Legia Warsaw, avoiding two play-off matches and advancing directly to the knockout rounds.
Jacob Ramsey made his first start in five months and goalie Filip Marschall made his Villa debut as Emery made eight changes from the win against Arsenal on Saturday.
Additionally starting were Matty Cash, Alex Moreno, Leander Dendoncker, Moussa Diaby, Jhon Duran, and Zaniolo.
In front of a home crowd of around 6,000, Zrinjski, who were bottom of the group with only one win from their previous five games, showed little drive, and Villa lacked the coherence to pose a threat.
Zaniolo once sent a shot crashing onto the crossbar and pushed goalie Marko Maric of Zrinjski into an uncommon save.
Villa’s acquisition of a record Diaby wasted his opportunity when he failed to capitalize on Moreno’s cross, and Emery’s fresh lineup was unable to quicken the pace.
After 57 minutes, Emery decided he had seen enough and substituted Lucas Digne for Moreno and Ramsey and John McGinn for Ramsey. Not much happened in the second half.
Injecting some energy and sending in a cross for Galatasaray midfielder Zaniolo, who was on loan, to expertly handle before burying the ball under Maric from six yards, McGinn had an immediate effect.
After Cash and Diego Carlos were replaced by Calum Chambers and Pau Torres, Josip Corluka was called for offside when he hit the crossbar with Zrinjski’s best opportunity of the game in the 71st minute.
Shortly afterwards, Corluka wasted another opportunity to warn Villa that the work was not finished from a corner.
A day before turning 20 years old, Tommy O’Reilly, a young midfielder, took Diaby’s place and made his senior Villa debut, forcing Maric into a save with his first-ever angled attempt.
When Marschall’s clearing hit Torres, his fellow rookie made a mistake that almost cost him, but Aldin Hrvanovic was unable to keep the rebound on goal.
Moments later, as the Premier League visitors managed to maintain their lead, Marschall made amends by sprinting off his liner to deny Hrvanovic.
However, Malekinusic punished Villa for not putting the result beyond doubt by thundering home a 25-yard equaliser in the 87th minute, but Emery’s side held on for the point they needed.
