With Rogers’ hat-trick, Aston Villa defeats Celtic and secures a place in the Champions League round of 16
Watkins scores the other goal for the English, and Idah scores both for the Scots
Aston Villa wins and is in the round of 16
Aston Villa secured a direct place in the round of 16 with a much-deserved win over Celtic in Birmingham on Wednesday. Morgan Rogers was the man of the match with a hat-trick, his first in his career. Watkins scored the other for the English side, and Idah scored both for the Scots.
Aston Villa started the match in a very promising way and went 2-0 up after four minutes of play, twice through Morgan Rogers’ right foot. The English team dominated, had more volume and finishing, but they slacked off and conceded consecutive goals also from a single player. Idah scored in the 35th and 37th minutes.
After a first-half blunder, Unai Emery’s team came back from the break determined to kill the game. Watkins scored the third and also missed a penalty that ended up being unnecessary. Morgan Rogers cleared his teammate’s bar in the last play of the game and, at 22 years of age, achieved his first hat-trick since turning professional.
Aston Villa finishes eighth
Qualified directly for the round of 16, Aston Villa could face one of the following opponents: Brugge, Sporting, Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta.
