Aston Villa’s manager, Unai Emery, emphasized the need for his team to improve their penalty-taking skills following an unexpected defeat in the Europa League to the Dutch side, Go Ahead Eagles.
Villa had taken an early lead through Evann Guessand, but the game turned when Emiliano Buendía missed a late penalty, contributing to a disappointing 2-1 loss in Deventer.
Despite struggling throughout the match, Go Ahead secured their historic triumph with goals from Mathis Suray and Mats Deijl just before and after halftime.
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Buendía’s penalty miss in the 77th minute could have initiated a comeback.
This marked Villa’s sixth missed penalty in the last year, with Ollie Watkins having missed one earlier in the season against Bologna. Additionally, Villa fell short in a penalty shootout against Brentford in the Carabao Cup last month.
“The responsibility was on Emiliano Buendía today,” Emery remarked. “He usually performs well from the spot, but unfortunately missed this one.
“It can happen, and we need to be more precise with our penalties moving forward. Our designated takers are clear. Today, it was Buendía, plus others like [Jadon] Sancho, John McGinn, and Morgan [Rogers].
“Emiliano can certainly take again, but we must be responsible in choosing our penalty takers.”
Commenting on the surprising loss, Emery reflected on Villa’s ongoing struggles in European away matches over recent seasons.
“Today’s match highlighted the challenges of playing in Europe, especially on the road,” he stated.
“This is what makes football thrilling; there are various ways to win. We dominated and had opportunities, but conceding chances can lead to unexpected defeats. And that’s what happened to us today.”
“I’ve faced many experiences like this, and Aston Villa has had its own share. We’ve performed well and won some, yet lost others. In our previous match against Feyenoord, our performance was subpar.
“While we perhaps created more chances, we still lost. This is football—unpredictable by nature. However, we hold ourselves to high standards and analyze why we were the better team yet didn’t succeed.”
Go Ahead Eagles, a club located 60 miles east of Amsterdam, was playing in the Dutch second tier as recently as 2021. After winning the Dutch Cup last season, match-winner Deijl expressed the significance of this victory for the club.
“In recent years, we’ve celebrated many big wins, with the cup final being the highlight,” he noted. “Many expected us to struggle in Europe, and I don’t think anyone anticipated a result like this from us.
“We’re extremely pleased, and this might be the biggest win in our club’s history.”