Barkley and Buendía on target as Aston Villa sink Viking to maintain perfect start

For a little over 20 minutes, Aston Villa could look down on the rest of Europe. They had scaled the Champions League summit on goal difference when Henrik Heggheim put through his own net and the fact was not lost on the Holte End, who reflected their position in song and perhaps allowed themselves another glimpse back to the days when their supremacy was undisputed. “We’ve conquered before, we’re prepared for more,” the pre-match tifo display had read.

Perhaps Villa really will rekindle the spirit of 1982 but the frustration here, albeit minor in the wider scheme, was that they could not maintain their bird’s-eye view over the continent. A superbly taken volley by Peter Christiansen, awarded by the video assistant referee after initially being disallowed for offside, gave Viking a consolation their second-half display deserved and meant Unai Emery’s side must make do with slumming it just behind Paris Saint-Germain.

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“Collectively and individually we did a good job and some players also made a step forward in their confidence,” said Emery, who was pleased with Villa’s seriousness against opponents still finding their way in a first campaign at this level. “Each match has an objective to get better, to be consistent and be very demanding.”

The hard work had been done in an opening period whose scoreline hardly did justice to Villa’s total dominance. Viking had drawn at home with Bayern Munich in their previous game, a fact that would look more explicable when they emerged from their shell later, but were barely afforded a kick and looked vulnerable every time the ball was delivered from wide.

Nicolas Jackson, electric in the 6-0 thrashing of Fenerbahce, fluffed two free headers in the opening seven minutes and a similarly resounding win came to appear possible. Emery had made four changes but Villa, working the play smoothly from side to side, were a consistent threat and unfazed by opponents whose attacking ambition was initially minimal.

The breakthrough arrived after a spell of pressure sparked when a cross from João Gomes, the makeshift right-back, deflected on to the bar. Two corners later, an inswinger from the livewire 18-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye was met by Ross Barkley, who leapt highest to plant a firm header across Arild Østbø at the near post.

Barkley had scored twice in the previous week’s big win but the rest of the first half resembled a quest for Emiliano Buendía to put his mark on the scoresheet. Straight after the opener Buendía looped a header wide of the vacant goal after Østbø had parried from Alysson, who was a rangy threat throughout, and then he charged on to a clever John McGinn corner only to aim straight at the keeper.

It was third time lucky when the VAR reviewed a needless challenge by the Viking captain Zlatko Tripic on Alysson, who had run into traffic in the box, and led the referee Sebastian Gishamer to award a penalty. Buendía rolled it in, his fourth goal in consecutive European games; 37 minutes had passed and Viking had still not produced a meaningful attack.

After the restart they showed some of the intensity and verve that had ruffled Bayern, the richly promising midfielder Tobias Moi warming Zion Suzuki’s midriff and seeing a goalbound effort blocked. Suzuki also beat away a Tripic drive. But Villa could now exploit space in behind and, after flashing an angled effort just wide, Alysson got away once again to create the third. This time his attempted centre snicked off Heggheim, who was desperately trying to recover, and gave Østbø no chance.

Now Villa were, as the home choirs gleefully announced, top of the league and they received further opportunities to hammer home the point. Alejandro Garnacho saw one of them saved by Østbø after a strong run but Viking remained a threat and Christiansen’s finish, emphatically converting Kristoffer Askildsen’s deep cross, was by some distance the best of the night.

“The second half was much more like the Viking we want to be,” said Morten Jensen, who co-manages the Norwegian champions alongside Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim. “Maybe we had too much respect for them in the first half, they were all over us.”

Nine points from nine, not to mention 12 consecutive home wins in Europe, mean Villa are flying. Sweeping Fenerbahce and Viking aside can “give us confidence and comfort for the next challenges,” Emery said. They will need plenty of it given a trip to Barcelona follows the relatively soft run presented so far. Maybe the peak is yet to come.