Who are ‘ Go Ahead Eagles ‘ ?. I had not heard about this team till they humbled Aston Villa in a Europa League encounter last night. The Dutch side from the city of Deventer in the Netherlands, and promoted to the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch Football only in 2020-21, have been steadily climbing popularity charts, but their victory last night at their home stadium De Adelaarshorst, against Aston Villa has suddenly propelled them into limelight.
Unai Emery’s side in good form and looking to extend their winning streak to 6 matches in all competitions, unassumingly hit a road block in the form of Go Ahead Eagles.
The home crowd was raucous; it was a big match for them, but Evann Guessand, Villa’s new signing, silenced the crowd with a fine finish in just 4 minutes into the game.
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Villa had the advantage, but were gloriously wasteful. Ollie Watkins and Buendia were guilty of the same. Though the Villans missed chances, Jari de Busser, the Eagles’ goalkeeper, was in sublime form, akin to an impermeable wall and denied Aston Villa on several occasions. His combative spirit eventually helped the Eagles to stay afloat.
With chances gone astray, the Eagles bit Aston Villa in the 42 nd minute with Mathis Suray, the Belgian, scoring from a deflection. Emiliano Martinez in goal just didn’t have a chance and the home team got the match to an even keel.
16 minutes into the second half, the Go Ahead Eagles captain, Mats Deijl, scored against the run of play, sending the home fans into an unprecedented rapture. The 10k-strong partisan crowd was on its toes as the Eagles went ahead.
Unai Emery swiftly made changes with Rogers, Malen and McGinn pushed in to save the day. However, the moment of truth arrived as Emi Buendia in the midst of a swirling wind and rain, missed a penalty. An opportunity to square up the game was lost for good. The Eagles stood firm and defended with their bodies to defy Villa an equaliser.
The final whistle ushered mighty celebrations. The Dutch minnows had caused an upset and had recorded their biggest win. The Eagles had displayed tremendous resistance and determination to thwart the Villans. So impressive indeed.
For Aston Villa, they are still comfortably poised and though there has been a bit of a blip, Villa should make it the knockouts in the Europa League.
There is no substitute for hard work, belief and determination, which is a lesson learnt from the Eagles.
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