2025-26 UEL Round of 16: Second Leg – Aston Villa vs Lille

Aston Villa entertain Lille in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie in the 2025-26 UEFA Europa League. 

With a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Villa just need to avoid defeat to secure their Quarter-Final spot but a 1-0 loss would send the tie to extra time and potentially penalties.

Lille must win by at least a two-goal margin to progress into the last eight.

 

Team News

Jadon Sancho is available for Villa after he was ineligible to feature in their 3-1 Premier League loss against his parent club – Manchester United.

Matty Cash (calf) and Emiliano Buendia (knock) face late fitness checks, but Youri Tielemans (ankle) and Boubacar Kamara (knee) remain absent.

Lille have no fresh injury concerns to report following their 2-1 Ligue 1 victory at Rennes.

Marc-Aurele Caillard (elbow), Osame Sahraoui (groin), Hamza Igamane (ACL), Ethan Mbappe Lottin (thigh) and Ousmane Toure (knee) are ruled out.

 

When is Kick-Off?

Villa host Lille at Villa Park on Thursday 19 March at 8pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• Villa are unbeaten in four of their last five meetings against Lille in all competitions (W2, D2, L1).
• Lille have won one of their two previous visits to Villa (W1, L1), having won 2-0 in August 2002 in UEFA Intertoto Cup then lost 2-1 in April 2024 in UEFA Conference League.
• Villa are unbeaten in their last 10 home matches in all UEFA competitions (W9, D1).
• Lille have won two of their five away games in this season’s competition (W2, L3).

 

Prediction

With their domestic top-four ambitions still on course despite a bruising 3-1 loss at Man Utd in which they didn’t take their chances when on top, Villa must reset now and focus on this game because they have a chance to keep this route of Champions League qualification alive.

Lille though were wasteful in their home leg which was a tight battle with not much to split both teams but they need to be more clinical and ideally score first, especially if they want to break Villa’s strong home form in Europe at present otherwise they will be going out of this competition.

The first goal therefore is going to be crucial because if Lille get ahead then it’s game on but I do think that Villa will grind something out here and sneak through.

Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Lille