PARIS: Aston Villa extended their winning streak to eight games in all competitions with a 2-1 victory at Basel on Thursday as goals from Evann Guessand and Youri Tielemans kept their Europa League campaign on a strong footing.

The result lifted Villa to 15 points, level with Olympique Lyonnais and Midtjylland at the top of the group after six matches. Lyon won 2-1 at home to Go Ahead Eagles to stay above Midtj­ylland, who claimed a 1-0 victory over Genk.

Villa bounced back from a poor start to the season and are now third in the Premier League, including a 2-1 victory over leaders Arsenal on Saturday.

At St. Jakob-Park, Villa settled quickly and struck first when a loose ball from a corner fell kindly for Guessand, who finished from close range after 12 minutes.

Basel gradually eased themselves into the match and drew level in the 34th minute, with Flavius Daniliuc poking home past a hesitant Marco Bizot after a fine free kick swung in by Xherdan Shaqiri.

Only minutes after coming on, Tielemans found the net for Villa with a composed finish from just outside the area in the 53rd minute to put them ahead again, and they kept the Swiss side at bay for the rest of the match to get all three points.

Unai Emery’s side trail Lyon and Midtjylland only on goal difference and are guaranteed of at least a play-off place.

“I am happy and we knew before the match the difficulties we were facing today,” Emery, who has won the Europa League trophy four times during stints in charge of Sevilla and Villarreal, told TNT Sports.

“After the last matches, a lot of wars. Brilliant wars for us, after our victory against Arsenal, it is not easy to recover. The last 10 minutes they were close to drawing but I am happy with how we got this victory. It is difficult to beat them here.”

Lyon’s momentum continued with victory against Go Ahead Eagles in a match that erupted into life immediately, with three goals inside the opening 11 minutes.

Afonso Moreira struck for the hosts after just three minutes, Milan Smit equalised soon after and Pavel Sulc restored Lyon’s lead before many in the crowd had even settled into their seats.

Midtjylland scored after 17 minutes when Dario Osorio unleashed a left-footed strike from distance which Genk goalkeeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge spilled. Cho Gue-sung reacted sharply, tucking in the loose ball.

The second half was a far quieter affair, with both teams settling into largely passive play with few big chances as the clock ran out.

After eight games, the top eight in the 36-team table go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams placed ninth to 24th advance to the knockout playoffs in February.

Three goals in seven minutes delivered a win for Real Betis at Dinamo Zagreb, starting with an own goal from Sergi Dominguez. Rodrigo Riquelme and Antony added two quick strikes to finish the flurry just before halftime and the match ended 3-1 after a late goal from Niko Galesic.

The result leaves Betis fourth on 14 points, level with SC Freiburg and Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros, who are coached by former Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane.

Freiburg secured a 1-0 win over RB Salzburg with Philipp Lienhart breaking the deadlock minutes after the restart, while Barnabas Varga headed in the winning goal to complete a 2-1 comeback victory for Ferencvaros over Scottish side Rangers, who were all but knocked out of Europe after sliding to a fifth defeat in six games.

Braga, FC Porto, VfB Stuttgart and AS Roma all have 12 points after they all won on Thursday.

Braga secured a 1-0 victory away to Nice, with a first-half strike from Pau Victor proving enough to see them home with all three points while Porto beat Sweden’s Malmo 2-1.

Stuttgart eased into a 4-1 win at home against Maccabi Tel-Aviv thanks to goals from Lorenz Assignon, Tiago Tomas, Maximilian Mittelstadt and Josha Vagnoman.

Roma saw off Celtic in Glasgow, led by a first-half double by Evan Ferguson and an own goal by Liam Scales before the break, making it 3-0 to the Italians at the end.

Nottingham Forest bolstered their hopes of qualifying directly for the last 16 with a 2-1 win at Utrecht.

Arnaud Kalimuendo scored for Nottingham Forest in the 52nd minute in Utrecht but the hosts levelled late on through a Mike van der Hoorn header. Just before stoppage time, Igor Jesus stepped up to snatch the winner as Forest moved to 11 points, level with Fenerbahce and Bologna.

Anderson Talisca netted a hat trick for Fenerbahce in a 4-0 victory at SK Brann, while Bologna brought Celta Vigo, who had stunned hosts Real Madrid 2-0 on Sunday in La Liga, back down to earth with a 2-1 victory.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2025