The Holy Trinity: Aston Villa conclusions from comeback victory against Red Bull Salzburg

Villa get the result they need to secure home advantage for the rest of their Europa League journey – just

They got there in the end but individual errors threatened to come at a serious cost before a quite brilliant comeback.

Aston Villa wouldn’t have made a big deal out of playing some of their Europa League second legs away from home but having Villa Park behind them at the conclusion of every round they can reach, up to and including the semi-final, is an advantage worth fighting for.

Yet Villa, shorn of options and depth, had to compromise in their team selection against Red Bull Salzburg in their final league phase fixture.

Manager Unai Emery had to include some players he wouldn’t have in an ideal world. He probably had to leave some out he’d have preferred to play as well.

At 2-0, we’d have been focused here on the defensive mistakes that cost Villa the game. The analysis wouldn’t have been much different had the game ended 2-2.

But having thoroughly enjoyed watching Villa come back from two goals down to win and achieve their league phase target, there’s no sense in sulking about the damage done by the errors of Tyrone Mings and Victor Lindelöf. There wasn’t any.

Here’s your Holy Trinity of match conclusions: