Villa draw blank at Ajax in Europa Conference League last 16

Aston Villa played out a goalless draw at Ajax in the first leg of their Europa Conference League last-16 tie.

Both sides finished with 10 men in a closely-contested match that generated little action in front of goal. Ezri Konsa was first shown red for the visitors for a second bookable offence in the 82nd minute, before Ajax's Tristan Gooijer picked up a second yellow four minutes later.

Ajax and Villa struggled to create clear-cut chances and when the hosts did finally get one, Emiliano Martinez was equal to the task with a fine diving save to deny Kenneth Taylor from 14 yards. However, the goals flowed elsewhere in Europe with the three other Europa League Conference matches producing 11 goals.