By Matthew Elder

Copyright scotsman

John McGinn won the battle of the Scottish captains by scoring the goal which sealed a 1-0 win for Aston Villa over Lewis Ferguson’s Bologna in the Europa League on Thursday. Both Scotland midfielders started in a repeat of a fixture that took place in the Champions League last season. On that occasion, 11 months ago, McGinn netted in a 2-0 home win for his side, while Ferguson missed out due to injury. The duo lined up against each other at Villa Park this time, with each wearing the armbands for their respective clubs, on matchday one of the league phase of Uefa’s second tier competition. McGinn was on target again as his early strike earned Villa their first win of the season to ensure the pre-tournament favourites got their campaign up and running in a hard-fought contest. Villa had only scored twice in their opening six games of the season, both away from home, but they finally grabbed a goal on their own patch courtesy of McGinn’s pinpoint strike. Ollie Watkins came off the bench and saw a penalty saved in the second half as the wait for his first goal of the campaign went on, while Marco Bizot made important saves to deliver a much-needed win. It only took 12 minutes for Villa to unlock the Bologna defence and finally register a home goal. Emi Buendia sent in a corner intended for Morgan Rogers and, even though his mis-hit allowed Bologna to clear, the ball fell straight to McGinn, who took a touch and picked out the bottom corner from distance. It was a goal which earned the former Hibs man the accolade of being the top long-range marksman in Europe. According to Opta, no player has scored more goals (4) from outside the box in major European competitions than McGinn since the start of the 2023/24 season. Villa had the chance to double their lead midway through the second half after Watkins, off the bench, was brought down by Martin Vitik, but his spot-kick straight down the middle was saved by Skorupski. And they were almost punished immediately when Santiago Castro powered a header against the crossbar. Both McGinn and Ferguson completed the full 90 minutes but it was the Villa man who left the happier of the two. “I’m a little bit disappointed,” Ferguson told TNT Sports afterwards. “I thought the performance was decent enough to merit at least a point. “It was a bit strange coming up against him [McGinn]. I obviously know him really well from the national team. I was gutted to see his shot going into the back of the net to be honest. It was a good strike.”