Villa beat Feyenoord 2-0 in Rotterdam as Buendía and McGinn seal win

Aston Villa completed a tense, controversy-tinged victory in Rotterdam on Thursday as they beat Feyenoord 2-0 at De Kuip in their Europa League group match. Second-half strikes from Emiliano Buendía in the 61st minute and captain John McGinn in the 79th sealed the win for Unai Emery’s side and kept Villa’s perfect start in the competition intact.

The match was defined as much by officiating decisions and a late goalkeeper switch as by the goals. Emi Martínez, originally named to start for Villa, was withdrawn in the warm-up with a calf problem and Marco Bizot was called into the lineup minutes before kick-off. Bizot produced several important saves as Feyenoord dominated large spells of the first half, helping Villa weather heavy pressure until their breakthrough.

Feyenoord appeared to have taken the lead on 31 minutes when Ayase Ueda headed the ball over the line, but the referee disallowed the goal for a foul in the build-up on Matty Cash. Feyenoord manager Robin van Persie later said the official apologised to him at half-time, calling the decision “a clear goal for us.” Earlier in the match, a foul on Ollie Watkins by Anel Ahmedhodžić that might have warranted a red card was...