RB Leipzig 2-3 Aston Villa: Late deflected Barkley goal eliminates luckless hosts

Ross Barkley’s late deflected goal lifted Aston Villa to a 3-2 win at RB Leipzig that left the visitors third in the Champions League table and eliminated their hosts.

With 13 points from six matches, Unai Emery’s Villa are closing on a place in the last 16, although they were twice pegged back by struggling Leipzig.

John McGinn’s early opener looked to have his side cruising, but Lois Openda levelled against the run of play after Emiliano Martinez misjudged a long ball.

Villa were back in front through substitute Jhon Duran’s long-range strike, with the same man then seeing another disallowed, before Leipzig hit back again as Openda teed up Christoph Baumgartner.

The final twist went again in Villa’s favour five minutes from time, though, when Barkley took aim from outside the box, slipping as he shot but seeing his wayward effort diverted into the net by Lukas Klostermann.

It was a blow from which Leipzig finally could not recover, ensuring they became the first team to exit this season’s competition after six straight defeats.

Data debrief: Deflected winner epitomises contrasting campaigns

Leipzig were pushing for a winner of their own when Barkley let fly with an optimistic effort from outside the box. Opta measured the attempt as worth just 0.025 expected goals, but the huge deflection it earned off Klostermann took it away from Peter Gulacsi.

The Bundesliga side must have long suspected this was not their year, competitive but beaten in each prior match, and Barkley’s unlikely goal ensured it was more of the same. Leipzig actually created more xG than Villa (2.25) but did not benefit from the same fortune.

While Gulacsi might have done more to keep out Duran’s long-range goal, also measured at 0.025 xG, everything the Villa forward hits this season seems to find the net. He has three goals in this competition and will be looking to maintain that scoring run in the knockout stage when Leipzig will merely be spectators.