Europa League
2025-09-25 - Aston Villa vs Bologna
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Europa League
Thursday 25th September 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Aston Villa
An important ally is leaving Aston Villa, but Unai Emery will be pleased that someone like Roberto Olabe has been chosen to replace Monchi as Director of Football Operations. The financial constraints have clearly been an issue for Aston Villa this summer, but fans also point out that Monchi has overseen a lot of money being spent and the squad has not been bolstered as expected.
All of this behind the scenes action has not overshadowed what has been a miserable start to the season for Aston Villa. Months after playing in the Champions League Quarter Final, the squad have been struggling for confidence and Unai Emery will need to find answers as the team prepares to begin the Europa League campaign. This is a competition in which Emery has thrived as manager, and Aston Villa have reached the Semi Final in the Conference League and Quarter Final in the Champions League over the last couple of seasons.
Aston Villa played against ten men for much of the fixture on Sunday, but they were still not able to hold onto a 0-1 lead at Sunderland and it is now 7 games without a win in all competitions. They have yet to score in 2 home games this season and Aston Villa were beaten 0-3 by Crystal Palace in the last fixture played at Villa Park.
The manager was far from impressed with what he had seen at the Stadium of Light and is expected to freshen up the starting eleven.
Bologna
They didn't only end a long wait to return to European Football last season, but Bologna had pushed their way into the Champions League. In a disappointing showing, Bologna finished 28th out of the thirty-six teams and were eliminated in the League Phase, but they ended up winning the Coppa Italia to earn a spot in the Europa League.
This is actually only the second time in the history of the Football Club that Bologna have earned a spot in European competition in consecutive seasons. The squad will have picked up some valuable experiences in the Champions League last season and the fixture list is much more manageable for Bologna in the Europa League compared with the Champions League.
Bologna have had a mixed start to the new season with 2 wins and 2 losses from the opening 4 League games played. Going back to last season, Bologna have not won any of their last 6 away games in all competitions and they have suffered defeats in 5 of those fixtures played.
Head to Head
These two clubs met in the Champions League last season and it was Aston Villa who won 2-0 at Villa Park.
Prediction
If the early season form is any guide, this is going to be a fixture that may not need the scoreboard operator to be working on Thursday evening.
Aston Villa and Bologna have been struggling for goals, but have shown some resiliency defensively and this opening Europa League game could be pretty tight.
They actually met in the Champions League last season and Aston Villa won that League Phase fixture 2-0 at home with both games coming in the second half. It was a competitive fixture with Aston Villa's superior finishing earning them the three points, but this is a home team lacking confidence in forward areas.
Bologna will want to frustrate, but the Italian club have not won any of their last 6 away games in all competitions and been beaten 5 times in that run.
Both away fixtures played this season have ended in 1-0 defeats for Bologna and it may take a single strike to determine the winner of this one too.
There are some changes behind the scenes which could be serving as a distraction for Aston Villa and backing the under 2.5 goals options looks the best approach for this opening Europa League fixture.
The Pick :
Aston Villa 1-0 Bologna
