The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

Goals from John McGinn and Leon Bailey helped Aston Villa progress through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, with a 2-0 win on the night and a 3-1 win on aggregate. Villa, who have been having a tough time of it in the League, were always in control of the tie, despite the best efforts of OSC Lille.

The Italian side Bologna, who do have several British stars amongst their ranks, await the Midlands side in the last eight. Vincenzo Italiano’s side beat Rome 4-3 on the night and 5-4 on the night in what was a thrilling all-Italian European tie.

Italiano’s side, who are eighth in Serie A, will be a difficult proposition, after all, they do have a manager who was a two-time Europa Conference League finalist with fellow Italian side Fiorentina.

As impressive as that is, Villa have Unai Emery as manager, Mr Europa League himself. The Spaniard is the most successful manager in the tournament, having won the title three times with Spanish side Sevilla and once more with their Spanish rivals Villareal (look away, Man United fans).

The tie between Bologna and Aston Villa will be on 9th April. The return leg will be held on 16th April.

Here at the-sports-buff.com, we have enjoyed serving you, the readers. Thank you for your support and feedback. We aim to grow, and we need your help.

We need your support as we look to grow our team further and improve our site. We would appreciate it if you could donate as little or as much as you can to help our site grow so it can be one of the pioneers of sports that we know it can be.