Aston Villa 2-1 Lille: Narrow first-leg lead in Europa Conference League quarter-final for Unai Emery’s side

Aston Villa will take a narrow 2-1 lead back to Lille following the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final at Villa Park.

Ollie Watkins headed Villa in front from John McGinn's corner early on and McGinn's deflected shot early in the second half doubled the advantage for Unai Emery's side on the occasion of his 1000th game in management.

But Lille, who squandered a number of good opportunities in the first half and saw Gabriel Gudmundsson's goal ruled out for offside following a VAR check in the second, finally had their reward late in the game through Bafode Diakite's header.

It made for muted celebrations at the final whistle, an awareness that this tie is in the balance. There is work to do in France.

Lille made a confident start but the character of the contest shifted when Leny Yoro went down following a nudge in the back from Watkins, looked expectantly at the referee and did not receive the decision. It invited the pressure that brought the opener.

That came following another tumble, Ismaily throwing himself to the ground unnecessarily as John McGinn's right-wing corner was curling towards the six-yard box. It left Watkins unmarked at the far post and able to nod into the net for the breakthrough goal.

If that was supposed to settle nerves at Villa Park, it instead seemed to spur on Lille. Three times they carved Villa open before the half-time whistle and three times Emiliano Martinez was a match for the man running through on his goal. It was superb goalkeeping.

Edon Zhegrova failed to find a way past him on the angle, Diakite should have done better after racing through from deep, and Jonathan David appeared tentative in the face of the World Cup-winning goalkeeper. None punished Villa's