Aston Villa were denied a famous win over Juventus by a controversial refereeing decision, but were indebted to the brilliance of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez against the Italian giants.
It took 36 minutes for either team to create a major opening but Ollie Watkins was denied by Michele Di Gregorio after being sent through on goal.
And on the stroke of half-time, the hosts went within inches of opening the scoring, but Lucas Digne’s free-kick rattled the crossbar.
After the hour, and a tense, tetchy opening to the half, Francisco Conceicao was denied in astonishing fashion by Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine goalkeeper diving to keep his low header out of the bottom corner from point-blank range.
Soon after, at the other end, John McGinn saw an effort cleared off the line as, suddenly, the contest spluttered into life.
And Morgan Rogers thought he had won the game in injury time with a fine finish after Diego Carlos challenged Di Gregorio, but the goal was ruled out by VAR for a foul on the stopper in chaotic ending scenes.
GOAL rates Aston Villa’s players from Villa Park…