Aston Villa find perfect way to forget about unwanted transfer attention in Champions League thriller
Aston Villa find perfect way to forget about unwanted transfer attention in Champions League thriller
Share:
Aston Villa 4-2 Celtic: Morgan Rogers’s hat-trick sent Villa straight into the Champions League last 16 but transfer questions remain over Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran. On a night dominated by transfer news surrounding their two leading marksmen, a hat-trick from someone else, Morgan Rogers, was required to fire Aston Villa directly into the last 16 of the Champions League as Uefa netted yet another victory for their shiny new format.
![[Morgan Rogers scored a hat-trick for Villa]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/20/13/SEI237838175.jpeg)
Capping a memorable first league-phase adventure at Europe’s top table since 1982-83, a night full of drama ended with hat-trick hero Rogers, scoring his first three goals in the Champions League, and teammates huddled around a phone to see if other results had gone Villa’s way.
![[Ollie Watkins was at the centre of a storm on and off the pitch]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/21/27/SEI237852468.jpeg)
Atalanta’s draw away to Barcelona sealed eighth spot for Villa – another remarkable achievement for Unai Emery. But the action on the pitch only told half the story of a night packed with more drama than a Hollyoaks omnibus. Upon arrival at a frosty Villa Park, a somewhat tone deaf rendition of “Watkins on fire” boomed out of a fan zone across from the Holte End, blissfully unaware of the internal chaos their England international hitman was causing a few yards away.
![[Will Ollie Watkins still be an Aston Villa player when they next play a Champions League match?]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/22/13/SEI237859891.jpeg)
Not tonight, lads. As if there wasn’t enough going on amid an unprecedentedly chaotic night of new-age Champions League action, news of a rejected Ollie Watkins bid from Arsenal spread like wildfire less than an hour before kick off. Talk that Watkins is keen on the move to the club he has supported all his life was not ideal preparation for a must-win encounter.
