In the blink of an eye, Aston Villa saw qualification to the next phase of the FA Cup escape. Unai Emery’s team started with the Frenchman Marco Bizot as a starter, but at the end of the first half he saw red and forced the entry of Emiliano Martínez with the duel favoring 1-0.Although they were far from having responsibility in some of the actions, Draw suffered three goals in 27 minutes and the Villains were eliminated in the fourth round with a 3-1 defeat.
The duel at Villa Park in Birmingham had started with rotation between the three posts and with an advantage in the first quarter of an hour thanks to Tammy Abraham’s goal.But the scenario changed drastically at the end of the first stage.Bizot, a 34-year-old goalkeeper who arrived in the last transfer market from Stade Brestois with the chance of Dibu Martínez leaving, made an unusual mistake.
When the last seconds of the minute that the referee added in the first stage were being played, Leon Bailey misdelivered a pass with the team in the rival field and Jacob Murphy received the ball in the middle of the field with the chance to lead an interesting counterattack.However, he almost couldn’t control the ball: Bizotle hit a brutal kick near the center circle.To make matters worse, the player had been left in a bad position to continue the counterattack with his two teammates and, at the same time, there were three Aston Villa players who returned at full speed to prevent the action.
Referee Chris Kavanagh did not hesitate and showed him a straight red card.Martínez entered at that moment, but almost did not play against a first half that was already over. However, he lived through a bitter second 45 minutes where he could do little to prevent his fence from falling.
At 60 minutes, the judge made an incredible mistake by not charging a penalty for Lucas Digne’s handball.The foul, called outside the area, ended up being favorable for Newcastle anyway: Martínez cleared the center with his fists, but Sandro Tonali captured the ball at the gate of the area.His powerful shot deflected off Douglas Luiz and dislocated Dibu, who could only watch as the tying ball went in.
At 75, the Italian Tonali again had the ball at his feet in the crescent of the area and took a very strong low shot that was impossible for the Argentine team’s goalkeeper to stop.
The dream of turning the game around for Aston Villa ended with a very curious scene.At 87 minutes, the team recovered close to its goal and tried to play, but Lamare Bogarde’s pass to the middle ended in an assist: the German Nick Woltemade was left to define and, when Martínez threw himself at his feet, the Spanish Pau Torres ended up collaborating with the rival’s 3-1 by trying to avoid the shot.
The Villans have won the FA Cup 7 times and are the sixth club that has brought the oldest trophy in the world to their showcases the most times along with Manchester City and behind Arsenal (14), Manchester United (13), Chelsea (8), Liverpool (8) and Tottenham (8).
Qualifying for the fifth round (round of 16) would have represented the team’s second best result in the last decade after having lost 0-3 in April 2025 in the semifinals of the last edition against Crystal Palace, who would later become the champions.
Previously, the last performance beyond the fourth phase had been in the 2014-15 season: they lost 4-0 to Arsenal in the grand final at Wembley Stadium.With another runner-up finish in the 1999/00 edition, the club’s last title dates back to 1957 when it beat United in the definition.
Unai Emery’s men will now have their attention divided into two other focuses.After finishing second on goal difference in the regular phase of the Europa League behind Lyon of France, Aston Villa awaits the results of the playoffs to know its rival in the round of 16: it will come from PAOK from Greece-Celta from Spain or Lille from France-Red Star from Serbia.
At the same time, the most tempting goal appears: the Premier League.After having played 26 of the 38 dates of the competition, Aston Villa is third with 50 points behind the leader Arsenal (57) and the runner-up Manchester City (53).
The next matchday will be played on Saturday, February 21 at home from 12:00 (Argentina time) against a Leeds team that is fighting to avoid relegation.
The 152-year-old institution won the English league title for the last time in 1980. Since then, its last great performance was the runner-up finish in the 1992/93 season tournament won by Manchester United.
In 2024, they achieved fourth place and returned to play in the Champions League after 41 years with a memorable elimination against PSG in the quarterfinals.That fourth place was one of the best placements in more than three decades, taking into account the fourth place in 1996 and the fifth place obtained in 1997. From there, the Villanos finished six times in the sixth place in the table as the best result but then always navigated between the lower-middle part of the classification, including three seasons in the second division between 2016 and 2019.
That is why getting a ticket to the Champions League again this season and maintaining that third place (Manchester United, fourth, has 45 points) is also one of the goals beyond fighting for the champion crown.
So far, Dibu has 6 clean sheets so far in the current Premier League and has accumulated 65 clean sheets in 218 matches in the English tournament in his career.
