England's top side Aston Villa returned to Europe after 13 years and kicked off their campaign with a perfect win as they thrashed Hibernian 5-0 away from home in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League play-off play-offs at the crack of dawn on Thursday (24). Villa's coach, Emery, is known for his cup successes, and Villa will no doubt be favorites to win the UEFA Europa League this time around.
Villa had a strong lineup for the game, with Onichis scoring twice in the first half and Rian Beni contributing a goal to take a commanding 3-0 lead at halftime. In the second leg, Onichs completed his hat-trick in just three minutes, and added a penalty from Douglas Reyes in the 74th minute to seal a 5-0 win. Returning home for the second round, victory seemed a foregone conclusion.
Last year's UEFA Europa League title was won by English Premier League side West Ham, and Villa, under the leadership of 'King of the Europa League' Emery, are also regarded as favorites to win the title. After the game, the Spanish coach said: "I'm very happy to get this big win, we take our opponents and this game very seriously, our first goal is to qualify for the group stage, and then we'll see if we can do more good things."
