Aston Villa marked their return to European football with a bang on Wednesday night, demolishing Hibernian at Easter Road.
Unai Emery’s side were dominant victors in Scotland, brushing their opposition aside in a 5-0 away win in the first leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs.
The Villans hadn’t competed in Europe since 2010 before the fixture, and all but confirmed themselves as being a strong part of the competition to come with the second leg still to play.
Who scored for Aston Villa against Hibernian?
It took Ollie Watkins 17 minutes to open the scoring for Emery’s team, in a header that marked his and Villa’s first of the night.
The Englishman added to his tally just after the half-hour mark, with the visitors' lead extended to three before half-time through Leon Bailey.
The first few minutes of the second half began encouragingly for Hibs, in which they pressed to gain some possession after what was a dominating first-half display by Villa, however, their feat only lasted minutes, as Watkins sealed his hat-trick after just 48 minutes.
Douglas Luiz capped off the five-star performance with Villa’s fifth through a penalty, after Bertrand Traore was pulled down in the area.
A completely one-sided affair ended with the visitors having 18 shots on goal to Lee Johnson’s side's five, with Watkins leaving with the match ball on his European debut, although he wasn’t Villa’s primary shining light.
How did Lucas Digne perform against Hibernian?
While the Villans’ talisman did what he did best in making himself a nuisance in the box, the 27-year-old wouldn’t have found the net without the brilliance of left-back Lucas Digne.
The Frenchman joined Watkins in registering a hat-trick, assisting all three of the striker’s goals, earning himself a stellar 8.7 Sofascore match rating.
The 30-year-old, who has been getting the headlines due to rumours of his potential exit from Villa Park, set up three goals, as well as showcasing a solid defensive display.
Recording as many as 86 touches from the left side of the defence, the former Everton man gave Emery a taste of just what he could be missing if he is to depart, performing to the highest standard in all areas of his game on the night.
Registering one clearance, one block and winning six out of nine duels (66.6%), as per Sofascore, the versatile defender was lauded as a “machine” by journalist Ty Bracey during the fixture.
The Frenchman seemed to be everywhere, especially in the final third in which he provided three sublime crosses for Watkins to dispatch, registering a total of four key passes in the 90 minutes he played.
Digne also stole the show from Hibernian returnee John McGinn, who was given a mixed welcome back to Easter Road five years after his departure, with the Scotsman not getting a look in due to the 30-year-old’s dominance on the left.
The most crucial part of the night was that Villa gained a healthy lead to take back to the Midlands in preparation for the second leg, with Digne’s performance bound to give Emery a headache as speculation remains over his potential departure.