Aston Villa Wins And Opens Opportunities To Knockout Round

Aston Villa has a great chance of qualifying for the Europa League knockout round after beating Basel 2-1. (UEFA)

JAKARTA - The English Premier League teams won an important victory in the Europa League match, Friday, December 12, 2025 in the morning WIB. Aston Villa beat Basel 2-1 so that it opened up opportunities to qualify for the knockout round.

Villa put forward a positive trend in the Europa League. After beating the leader of the English Premier League standings Arsenal with a score of 2-1, Villa then visited Basel's headquarters. In the duel at St. Stadium. Jakob Park, Villa again showed his best performance to overcome the hosts.

The victory over Basel confirmed Villa's position in the top eight of the Europa League standings. They have a great chance of qualifying for the knockout round automatically after being ranked third.

With points 15, The Villans equaled Lyon's points at the top and FC Midtjylland who maintained impressive performance in European competitions so they could rank second.

Meanwhile, Basel still has to struggle to get a playoff ticket. Currently they are still stuck in 26th position by pocketing six points. Basel needs additional points to enter the playoffs zone if they want to qualify for the knockout round.

In that match, Villa played brilliantly and dominated. Unai Emery's side did not take long when winger Evann Guessand broke into the hosts' goal in the 12th minute.

Only the 1-0 Villa advantage did not last long. Basel quickly caught up with defender Flavius Daniliuc who received an assist from Xherdan Shaqiri who beat goalkeeper Marco Bizot in the 34th minute. The score changed 1-1 and lasted until the first half was over.

In the second half, Villa maintained the tempo of the game. This made them continue to dominate and press the Basel defense.

The effort to win the 1982 Champions Cup also paid off when Youri Tielemans broke into Basel's goal in the 53rd minute. The score changed 2-1 for Villa and lasted until the game was over.

"We are happy to have three points. We are facing interesting matches, including against Arsenal last week. In this match we showed consistency for 90 minutes," Emery said in response to Villa's victory as quoted by the UEFA website.

"It must be admitted that they are tough opponents and playing here [Basel candang] is not easy," he said.

The success of staying at the top makes Emery optimistic that Villa will compete in the Europa League. He also hopes that the team can reap achievements in European competitions.

We want to keep going. The Europa League means a lot to us. This competition is also very competitive and only one team has emerged as winners. The success of winning three points makes us more confident to move into the next round," said Emery again.

Villa also showed consistency in the Premier League. They managed to break through the top three and compete for the top position.

By having points 30, Villa are only three points adrift with Arsenal. Meanwhile, Manchester City, who is ranked second, has pocketed 31 points.