Aston Villa pulled off a dramatic 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig on Tuesday night in the Champions League, with Jhon Durán and Ross Barkley scoring second-half goals to secure the win.
The match was overshadowed by a rare error from goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who misjudged the ball’s bounce, allowing Leipzig to score. Despite this, Villa’s resilience ensured they clinched all three points.
With 13 points from six matches, Unai Emery’s side is currently third in the group, potentially just one win away from securing a top-eight finish and an automatic spot in the round of 16. Leipzig, on the other hand, remain winless and are unable to progress.
“I thought overall we were the better team and we could have scored more,” Villa 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.”
Villa took the lead within the first three minutes as McGinn fired in a header from Ollie Watkins past goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi.
However, Leipzig equalized in the 27th minute when Martínez made a costly error, misjudging the bounce of the ball, which allowed Loïs Openda to slide it past him.
Durán, known for his impact off the bench, continued his impressive form, having scored six goals from substitute appearances this season—the most by any player in Europe’s top five leagues in 2024-25. After the break, he put Villa back in front in the 52nd minute with a powerful 30-meter shot from a pass by Youri Tielemans that sailed past Gulácsi.
“I am just happy to be here and love the competition with Ollie Watkins,” Durán said. “When it is my turn hopefully I can step up and help the team.”
Durán thought he had scored again minutes later, but his goal was ruled out for offside in the build-up. As he turns 21 on Friday, he was asked about celebrating and jokingly responded, “I am definitely not going out to celebrate my birthday because my aim is to score on Saturday (in a Premier League game at Nottingham Forest) to celebrate.”
Leipzig responded in the 62nd minute when Openda played a pass from 40 meters to Christoph Baumgartner, who volleyed it in to level the match.
Barkley made an immediate impact after coming on, scoring an 85th-minute winner. His long-range shot from outside the box took a heavy deflection off Leipzig defender Lukas Klostermann and wrong-footed Gulácsi.
The new Champions League format sees the top eight teams from the group stage advance directly to the round of 16.
Teams finishing between ninth and 24th will enter a two-legged play-off, with the winners progressing. Villa’s remaining matches in this phase are away at Monaco on January 21 and at home to Celtic on January 29.
