Sabasports Match Preview
Europa League: Aston Villa vs Bologna
Kickoff Time: 2025-09-26 03:00 (HKT)
Source: REUTERS/Scott Heppell
Under the management of Unai Emery, Aston Villa has become a regular in European competitions. Last season, the team reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, only losing to the eventual winners, Paris Saint-Germain. This season, their performance has declined due to injuries, going five league matches without a win and already being eliminated from the EFL Cup. Currently, their second-most valuable defensive midfielder, Amadou Onana, and their fifth-most valuable midfielder, Youri Tielemans, are both on the injury list. The good news is that their third-most valuable defensive midfielder, Boubacar Kamara, returned to the starting lineup last week and contributed an assist, helping Villa score their first goal of the current Premier League season. In fact, the most significant aspect of Emery’s transformation of Villa in recent years has been implementing a high defensive line. The core requirements for this tactic’s success are maintaining high concentration in defense and a high pass completion rate. Early in the season, injuries in the defensive midfield position caused issues with Villa’s passing during transitions from defense to attack. Now, Kamara’s return is expected to fundamentally address the team’s weakness of low pass completion.
In recent years, Bologna’s results have been in the upper tier of Serie A, with their progress being evident – from finishing fifth in the 2023-24 league season to winning the Coppa Italia last season. However, it’s somewhat regrettable that Bologna did not increase investment but instead began selling key players and made ineffective signings, leading to a decline in the team’s performance. In this summer’s transfer window, Bologna had a net profit of 29.5 million euros. The highly anticipated forward Jonathan Rowe has yet to integrate into the team’s tactics, having only played 16 minutes without even attempting a shot. Ciro Immobile, a key player signed on a free transfer from Lazio, got injured after playing only 30 minutes. The unsuccessful restructuring of the attack leaves Bologna at a distinct disadvantage in tough matches. Taking their last away game against AC Milan as an example, Bologna managed only five shot attempts throughout the match, with none on target.
The two teams faced each other in last season’s Champions League group stage, where Villa comfortably defeated Bologna 2-0 at home. Now, facing a team they have previously beaten, Villa holds a clear psychological advantage. Considering that Villa’s key defensive midfielder Kamara has returned, while Bologna’s attack is still struggling to gel, the balance has shifted. It seems almost inevitable that Bologna will suffer another defeat.
Aston Villa’s Last 5 Games: DDDLL
25-09-21 Sunderland 1-1 Aston Villa
25-09-17 Brentford 1-1 Aston Villa (PEN 4-2)
25-09-13 Everton 0-0 Aston Villa
25-09-01 Aston Villa 0-3 Crsytal Palace
25-08-23 Brentford 1-0 Aston Villa
Bologna’s Last 5 Games: WLWLL
25-09-20 Bologna 2-1 Genoa
25-09-15 AC Milan 1-0 Bologna
25-08-31 Bologna 1-0 Como 1907
25-08-24 AS Roma 1-0 Bologna
25-05-25 Bologna 1-3 Genoa
Head-To-Head Record
24-10-23 Aston Villa 2-0 Bologna
Prediction: Aston Villa to win