LEIPZIG, Germany :Aston Villa substitutes Jhon Duran and Ross Barkley bagged second-half goals to salvage a 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig on Tuesday in a Champions League match marked by a stunning error from keeper Emi Martinez that gifted Leipzig a goal.
With 13 points after six games, Unai Emery's men are provisionally third in the table and just a win away from booking their berth in the Champions League last 16.
Leipzig have zero points and their loss means they cannot advance.
"I thought overall we were the better team and we could have scored more," Villa's captain John McGinn told Amazon Prime. "We dealt with their problems well and what we needed today was substitutes to come on and make a difference.
"It is exciting. It is great to be in the top three."
McGinn put Villa on the scoresheet inside three minutes when he fired in Ollie Watkins's header past Peter Gulacsi.
Lois Openda levelled against the run of play in the 27th minute when Martinez ventured well out of his net but misjudged the bounce of the ball, allowing Openda to nudge it past him and score.
Super sub Duran, who has six goals off the bench this season - the most by any player in Europe's big-five leagues in 2024-25 - was electric from the moment he entered the game after the break.
He put the visitors up in the 52nd minute when he latched on to a pass from Youri Tielemans before unleashing a blistering shot from nearly 30 metres out that sailed over Gulacsi's head.
Duran had the ball in the back of the net again minutes later but it was chalked off for offside in the build-up.
The home side levelled 10 minutes later when a 40-metre pass from Benjamin Henrichs found Openda, who floated the ball to the back post for Christoph Baumgartner to steer in with a
Read more on channelnewsasia.com
channelnewsasia.com