Aston Villa moved up to third in the Champions League table as a late deflected Ross Barkley strike earned them a win in a superb game in Germany.
Villa took an early lead through captain John McGinn but Lois Openda equalised when Emiliano Martinez was caught out of position in the Villa goal.
Unai Emery introduced supersub Jhon Duran at half-time and he took just seven minutes to make his mark and lash Villa back in front.
Duran had another ruled out for offside and moments after that goal was overturned Christoph Baumgartner equalised.
The rollercoaster second half then saw Barkley come off the bench to win it and send Villa third, five points behind leaders Liverpool.
The top eight automatically qualify for the next stage and with games against Monaco and Celtic to come, Emery’s men are a good bet to avoid the need for a play-off round in their first foray in this competition.
Leipzig are out, having lost all six of their games.
Job done… in the end 😅 #RBLAVL #UCL pic.twitter.com/PRD1Hi1Q3A
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 10, 2024
Villa led when Matty Cash, playing in a more advanced position on the right, crossed for Ollie Watkins, who nodded down into the path of McGinn and the skipper made no mistake from close range.
That gave the visitors confidence and they had enough chances in the first 15 minutes to have the game wrapped up.
Lucas Digne’s cross from the left was begging to be converted but Watkins could not make contact from close range and then Morgan Rogers shot straight at Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
Then Youri Tielemans found himself with time and space on the edge of the area from Watkins’ tee-up but the Belgium international disappointingly dragged wide.
All that good work was undone in the 27th minute, though, as Martinez was left red-faced.
The Argentinian was too casual waiting to collect Nicolas Seiwald’s long ball and Openda nipped in to get the ball first and tap into an empty net.
Duran was introduced at the break and was invited to drive forward and unleashed a 25-yard shot, before Baumgartner cushioned a far-post volley back across goal and into the corner.
Lucas Digne brought a save out of Peter Gulacsi and then Openda shot straight at Martinez as both sides pushed for a winner.
It was Villa who got it as Barkley saw his deflected effort wrong-foot Gulacsi and hit the back of the net.
‘Exciting to be top three’
“I thought overall we were the better team and we could have scored more,” Villa’s captain John McGinn told Amazon Prime. “We dealt with their problems well and what we needed today was substitutes to come on and make a difference.
“It is exciting. It is great to be in the top three.”