Aston Villa player ratings vs RB Leipzig: ‘Immature’ 4/10 and 5/10 new signing - photos

Aston Villa suffered a second successive pre-season defeat in the early hours of Thursday morning, beaten 2-0 by German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in a one-sided affair in New Jersey. Unai Emery’s men didn’t register a single shot on target at Red Bull Arena as they struggled to surpass a resilient Leipzig back line, suffering another confidence knock after the 4-1 thrashing from Columbus Crew.

Villa zipped it around early doors and had a couple of promising openings down the right through Leon Bailey, but their joy was ended prematurely as Leipzig broke the deadlock in the 17th minute. Amadou Haidara pounced on a mistake from Villa passing out from the back and fed Andre Silva for an open goal. Robin Olsen’s pass lacked oomph and then Ross Barkley wasn’t quick enough to react to the press as he was dispossessed easily on the edge of his own area. Olsen then went off through an injury sustained when rushing out to Haidara, rubbing salt in the wound.

Leipzig gained confidence from their opener, passing the ball with a swagger. The Bundesliga side deservedly doubled their advantage just before half-time, through Lois Openda. The Belgium international saw an audacious flick saved at close range by Oliwier Zych following a low cross, but the efforts of Villa’s young goalkeeper were in vain as Openda netted on the rebound.

To make matters worse, Diego Carlos was sent off for a second yellow card in the aftermath of Leipzig’s second goal, showing a total lack of maturity despite his experience. Carlos engaged in a pushing match with Openda and was punished for a second time, not learning from a similar incident when he was first booked earlier on in a clash with the same player.

Villa struggled to craft anything of note from their own possession in the first period, met by a brick wall of Leipzig defenders whenever venturing into the final third. Hardly any shots were managed, with Barkley’s deflected 20-yard effort and a low, saved cross from Lucas Digne truly the closest sights of goal.

Unai Emery turned to the bench at the break, swapping out Digne, Barkley, Samuel Iling Junior and Bailey for Ian Maatsen, Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Jaden Philogene. Emery then made the rest of his changes just after the hour mark but his reinforcements were unable to make the desired impact.

The game went rather stale, with very little action in either box and most possession side-to-side in the central areas. Leizpig looked the more likely team to score as Eljif Elmas and Benjamin Sesko had efforts drag wide of the left post, but the clash was effectively over as soon as Carlos saw red. Here are our Villa player ratings.