ASTON VILLA’S hopes of reaching the group stages of the Europa League were ended by a late goal from Rapid Vienna striker Nikica Jelavic in the second leg of the qualifier at Villa Park last night.
Martin O’Neill’s side looked to have turned around a first leg deficit after a James Milner penalty and John Carew’s second half goal had put them ahead on aggregate.
But Jelavic, who had scored for Vienna in the first encounter, had the final say with 14 minutes remaining.
It will be a massive disappointment to O’Neill and his players and will also hit the club financially via the loss of three guaranteed home fixtures and television revenue.
They were left to rue a first half spot-kick blunder by Ashley Young whose effort was saved by Vienna goalkeeper Helge Payer.
It would though be harsh to criticise Young. He and Milner were two of Villa’s best players and never stopped working from the first minute to the final whistle.
But Vienna were well organised throughout, defending in depth when required but also posing a threat on the counter-attack.
Villa had 14 minutes left to find the goal that would give them a 3-2 aggregate win but it was the visiting team who looked the most likely to score again.
The match was played in front of a half empty Villa Park but the Vienna fans, many waving their shirts around rather than wearing them, made plenty of noise throughout.
Everton, meanwhile, booked their place in the group stages after drawing 1-1 with Sigma Olomouc to wrap up the tie 5-1 on aggregate.
Everton suffered an early shock when Tony Hibbert was sent off for a professional foul with only seven minutes on the clock, and Sigma pushed forward immediately to try and take advantage.
But having weathered the storm, Everton hit back shortly before half-time through Steven Pienaar, whose emphatic strike effectively ended the tie and rendered Pavel Sultes’ late equaliser a mere consolation.
Fulham also reached the group stage but manager Roy Hodgson admitted his side had been “stretched to the limit” after going through despite a 1-0 defeat to Amkar Perm in Russia.
Martin Kushev’s late header secured victory for the home side on the night but Fulham prevailed 3-2 on aggregate despite being without six first-choice players for the long trip to Russia.
Amkar put Fulham under significant pressure right from the beginning of the match, with the Fulham manager admitting it had not been his tactic to play into the opponent’s hands.
Hodgson said: “I thought it was a very good game and I’m very happy that we went through. Amkar played particularly well today and made life difficult for us throughout the 90 minutes. And of course with the very late goal it made the last five minutes of the game extra exciting.”
Celtic, beaten in the third qualifying round of the Champions league by Arsenal, now join Everton and Fulham in the draw for Europa League group stage will be made today at noon (Irish-time) in Monaco.
