Aston Villa the silver lining on UEFA Europa League cloud

Aston Villa was the only club to emerge from match day one of the UEFA Europa League ubscathed last night, as both Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur suffered heavy losses in Europe.

Spur’s 2-0 defeat to Udinese was anything but surprising, given the fact that the club is enduring its worst start to season since 1972. The club that won the first ever UEFA Europa League tournament added insult to injury and most likely sealed coach Juande Ramos’ exit from the club.

“I’m very angry because I don’t like to lose,” Ramos said after the match. “We have the losing mentality - we’ve got to start learning quickly.”

Portsmouth joined Spurs in the UEFA Europa League doldrums after their strongest line-up went down 3-0 to Braga in Portugal.

Harry Rednkapp, who had earlier praised the quality of the UEFA Europa League, took the time honoured approach and blamed the referee for his side’s loss.

“Right from the start, the referee had no idea whatsoever,” Redknapp said. “They were diving all over the place and, every time there was a tackle, they were rolling around. That’s not part of the game in England, we don’t put up with that.”

Aston Villa, meanwhile, were not required to find excuses for their performance after defeating former European champions Ajax Amsterdam 2-1 at Villa Park.