Latest News by Industry
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Substitute Jhon Duran was a late savior for Aston Villa on Monday, scoring twice in the last five minutes against Liverpool to grab a remarkable 3-3 home draw and edge his team closer to next year’s Champions League.
A win would have confirmed a place in the English Premier League top four for Unai Emery’s side and a place in the European Cup for the first time since 1983.
But the home side went behind in the second minute with a bizarre own goal from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, and although Youri Tielemans equalized soon after, goals from Cody Gakpo and Jarell Quansah put Liverpool in the driving seat.
Until Duran’s appearance after 79 minutes.
The Colombian scored in the 85th and 88th, the second an astonishing lob executed on the run that sent Villa and its supporters wild with joy.
Villa remained in fourth place, five points ahead of Tottenham.
Villa has one game left to play and Tottenham has two, starting with Tuesday night’s visit by league leader Manchester City.
The top four qualify for the Champions League. Liverpool was third, 14 points clear of Villa.
Villa Park was rocking at the kickoff but the spirit was quickly doused when Liverpool had the ball in the back of the net after just 62 seconds. Harvey Elliott’s cross from the right took a deflection and the wrong-footed Martinez fumbled the ball into his own net.
It took the home side just 15 minutes to recover. Ollie Watkins did well on the left flank and cut the ball back for the unmarked Youri Tielemans to slam home from around 16 meters.
Liverpool regained the lead but only after a lengthy VAR review. Luiz Diaz fed Joe Gomez on the overlap and his low ball across goal was turned in by Cody Gakpo.
Jarell Quansah made it three early in the second half when he headed home a cross from Elliott to bag his first league goal.
And then it was Duran Duran when the Colombian slotted home from just outside the box and then scored that astonishing lob.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer