Youri Tielemans says his Aston Villa team-mate Jhon Duran ‘has everything’ after he scored in the impressive 2-0 win over Bologna to help Unai Emery’s side go top of the Champions League.
Villa’s inspiring Champions League journey continued on Tuesday as they downed Serie A side Bologna to move to the top of the league phase after three games.
Emery’s team thumped Young Boys 3-0 in their Champions League opener back inSeptember and beat Bayern Munich 1-0 at Villa Park earlier this month.
Duran scored the winner that day and there were similarly joyous scenes in Birmingham this evening as Villa maintained their perfect start to the European competition against Bologna.
John McGinn broke the deadlock with an inswinging free-kick shortly after half-time and the game was effectively put to bed 10 minutes later when Duran swept home Villa’s second.
It was Duran’s seventh goal of the season on his first Villa Park start in 11 months and will surely lead to more speculation over his future at the club ahead of the January transfer window.
The Colombia international was linked with moves to Chelsea and West Ham last summer and it was reported before Aston Villa’s latest Champions League game that Arsenal were also interested in securing his signature in January.
Discussing his team-mate’s strengths, Tielemans told TNT Sports: ‘Duran has everything.
‘He has technique, he can hold the ball and can flick on. He is an all round striker.’
Duran let his emotions get the better of him when he was replaced by Ollie Watkins immediately after scoring, kicking a seat in the dugout after being taken off by Emery.
‘He is really funny,’ Tielemans said when asked about Duran’s reaction. ‘The manager does not care. He knows everyone wants to play. It is part of the game.’
Aston Villa boss Emery also played down Duran’s reaction and praised his team for playing ‘serious’ and effective football.
‘We are playing seriously, we are playing focused, responsible and the team is progressing and mature in everything,’ he said.
‘We tried to break the press man to man. We conceded some things in the first 15 minutes but then reacted very well.
‘It is always difficult at home in Europe. We have had to try and be consistent in our gameplan for 90 minutes and I think we did that today.’
Villa finished fourth in the Premier League last season to qualify for the Champions League and are in the same position after eight games of the 2024-25 campaign.
‘It is amazing,’ McGinn said of Villa’s start to the Champions League. ‘Three games in, three wins and most important for us is no goals conceded.
‘We don’t want to stop here. It puts us in a great position. Some players came back and now we look really strong.
‘What we are building here is amazing. This is home for me. It is my seventh season here, we’ve had ups and downs. It has been a rollercoaster. Hopefully we can keep climbing.’
Ex-Arsenal and England defender Martin Keown was among those to pay tribute to Emery after Aston Villa celebrated another Champions League victory.
Emery had a spell in the Premier League with Arsenal before Villa but struggled at the Emirates Stadium before being sacked in November 2019.
‘Quietly Unai Emery is taking this club Aston Villa back to the big time,’ Keown said.
‘It has been 40 or so years since they won the Champions League, but it feels like something is happening again. It is all coming back again.
‘There is something special about this club and this stadium and now they have a special manager who is putting something special together.
‘They were fourth from bottom [in the Premier League] when he arrived. It is incredible what he is doing right now.’
Rio Ferdinand, the former Manchester United defender, added: ‘What Unai Emery has done at Aston Villa is nothing short of a miracle.
‘Before he came in they looked lost, but he has instilled a confidence and belief in the club.
‘You can feel it when you come here to the stadium, there is a genuine confidence that they can welcome any team here and beat them.
‘On their day they can beat anybody, because they have players that can hurt people. They have a great style of play, a great structure and the players all know what they are doing.’
Aston Villa will look to continue their impressive run of form on Saturday when they face Bournemouth, who ended Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season last time out.
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