Villa brush aside Ajax to reach Europa Conference League quarters
A dominant second-half display gave Aston Villa a 4-0 home win against Ajax on Thursday, booking a spot for Unai Emery's side in the quarterfinals of the Europa Conference League.
Five minutes before limping off injured, Ollie Watkins headed Villa into a first-half lead and Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran and Moussa Diaby then tied up the match as Villa ran rampant in the second half against 10-man Ajax.
After a goalless first leg in Amsterdam last week, the two teams started the match showing more physicality than inventiveness and both picked up yellow cards in the first 15 minutes.
Watkins then got himself into the book three minutes later with a late tackle on goalkeeper Diant Ramaj that left the England striker needing treatment on the sidelines.
Watkins showed no signs of lingering damage on 25 minutes when he rose unchallenged at the near post from Douglas Luiz's corner and glanced a header into the far corner.
But he was soon forced from the pitch, succumbing to the hurt picked up inside the opening 20 minutes.
Villa looked the more likely of the two to score in the second half and Bailey duly doubled the hosts' lead on the hour mark.
Luiz laid the ball off to Bailey and the Jamaican stood up Jorrel Hato in the box with a couple of step-overs before rolling the ball past the 'keeper.
The match was over as a contest when midfielder Sivert Mannsverk picked up a second yellow 24 minutes from time, Ajax's second red of the tie after Tristan Gooijer in the first leg.
Duran hammered home Villa's third via the crossbar in the 75th minute and Diaby completed the rout six minutes later with a confident left-footed finish as Ajax's defence crumbled.
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