Aston Villa vs Bologna facts

Fresh from a famous home victory, Aston Villa will look to make it three wins from three as fellow UEFA Champions League debutants Bologna come to Birmingham.

Unai Emery's side have won their opening two fixtures in their first European Cup campaign for 41 years, away at Young Boys (3-0) and at home to Bayern München – the same scoreline by which Villa beat the German giants in the 1982 final.

Bologna are still looking for their first win and goal having drawn 0-0 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk before a 2-0 loss at Villa's Premier League rivals Liverpool.

This is the teams' first meeting, and just Bologna's fourth game against English opponents.

Form guide

Aston Villa

Record vs Italian clubs: W2 D0 L4 F5 A9
Home record vs Italian clubs: W2 D0 L1

This is Villa's first game against an Italian club since September 1994 when, having lost 1-0 at Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup first round, they won by the same scoreline at Villa Park and progressed 4-3 on penalties.

Villa's only other win against Serie A sides – indeed, the only other of their six games they have not lost – was a 2-0 home victory against Inter in the second round of the same competition in 1990/91. They were beaten 3-0 in the Milan return.

Having lost 1-2 to Juventus in their first home game against Italian visitors, in the 1982/83 European Cup quarter-finals – also going down 3-1 away to end their defence of the trophy – Villa have therefore won their last two matches, keeping clean sheets in both.

This is Villa's first Champions League campaign – they are the 11th English club to feature in the competition proper.

Villa are taking part in the European Cup for the third time overall, and a first since 1982/83, when they were eliminated 5-2 on aggregate by eventual runners-up Juventus in the quarter-finals.

The Villans were involved in European competition for the first time since 2010/11 in 2023/24, Emery's team reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions Olympiacos (2-4 h, 0-2 a).

The Birmingham club have won seven of their last eight home European games, the exception that first-leg defeat by Olympiacos.

Emery guided Villa to fourth place in the Premier League in 2023/24 – their highest finish since 1995/96, when they were also fourth.

Villa are one of five clubs making their Champions League debuts in 2024/25, along with Brest, Bologna, Girona and Slovan Bratislava.

Bologna

Record vs English clubs: W0 D1 L2 F3 A7
Away record vs English clubs: W0 D0 L2

Bologna's 2-0 defeat at Liverpool on Matchday 2 was their first game against English opponents since August 2002, when they were beaten 5-3 on aggregate by Fulham in a UEFA Intertoto Cup final (2-2 h, 1-3 a).

This is Bologna's first Champions League campaign. They are the 11th Italian side to appear in the competition proper and the first newcomers since Atalanta in 2019/20.

Their only previous European Cup campaign lasted a single tie, Bologna losing on a coin toss to Anderlecht in the 1964/65 preliminary round (0-1 a, 2-1 h, 0-0 play-off).

Matchday 1 was Bologna's first European fixture since that Intertoto Cup final against Fulham in August 2002.

The Italian side's away record in UEFA competition is W7 D4 L13.

Champions of Italy seven times – most recently in 1964 – Bologna were fifth in Serie A in 2023/24, setting a new club record of 68 points. It was their highest finish since 1966/67, when they were third.

Thiago Motta, who had been in charge since September 2022, left for Juventus in the summer. Vincenzo Italiano, who guided Fiorentina to the Europa Conference League final in each of the last two seasons, was named as his replacement.

Links and trivia

Bologna's English winger Samuel Iling-Junior is on loan from Villa. He was part of the Chelsea academy between 2011 and 2020, when he signed for Juventus.

Remo Freuler played in England for Nottingham Forest in 2022/23.

Have played in Italy:
Lucas Digne (Roma 2015/16)
Robin Olsen (Roma 2018–21, Cagliari 2019/20 loan)

Olsen was a Cagliari team-mate of Bologna left-back Charalampos Lykogiannis.

International team-mates:
Matty Cash & Łukasz Skorupski, Kacper Urbański (Poland)
Jhon Durán & Jhon Lucumì (Colombia)
John McGinn & Lewis Ferguson (Scotland)
Pau Torres & Juan Miranda (Spain)
Robin Olsen & Emil Holm (Sweden)

Latest news

Aston Villa

Villa have won five of their first eight Premier League games (D2 L1), coming from behind for a 3-1 victory at Fulham on Saturday.

Ollie Watkins' goal made him Villa's top league scorer this season on five, one more than Jhon Durán – whose four have all come as a substitute.

Durán has six goals in all competitions, one more than Watkins.

John McGinn came on at Fulham having not played since 21 September due to a hamstring injury.

Long-term absentees Tyrone Mings (out since 12 August 2023, knee) and Boubacar Kamara (11 February, knee) are both back in training with the latter on the bench on Saturday.

Bologna

Bologna have drawn six of their first eight Serie A games this season (W1 L1). On Saturday they let slip a two-goal lead at Genoa, conceding twice in the final 17 minutes to draw 2-2.

A 0-0 draw against ten-man Parma on 6 October was Bologna's seventh successive home draw in Serie A – a new club record.

Martin Erlić (hamstring), Michel Aebischer (adductors), Dan Ndoye (muscle) and Samuel Iling-Junior (ligament) all missed Saturday's draw.

Tommaso Pobega was an unused substitute at Genoa having missed four games with a knee ligament sprain.

Lewis Ferguson has been out since 13 April, when he underwent knee surgery on a ligament injury.

Stefan Posch scored for Austria in a 5-1 UEFA Nations League win against Norway on 13 October.

Two days later, Remo Freuler was on target for Switzerland in a 2-2 draw against Denmark.