Barcelona Beat Aston Villa 3-0 as Emery's Nou Camp Wait Goes On

Barcelona beat Aston Villa 3-0 on Tuesday night, and Villa's perfect Champions League start is over. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha scored the goals at the Spotify Nou Camp, according to BBC Sport.

Villa came into the match having won all three of their Champions League games so far, against Club Brugge, Fenerbahce and Viking. They were chasing something rarer still. They wanted to become the first English side to win at the Nou Camp in almost 20 years. It was also their first visit to the stadium since 1983.

The breakthrough came early. Yamal, the Barcelona winger, scored seven minutes in after a passing error by Villa midfielder Joao Gomes. Gomes gave the ball away, and Barcelona punished him straight away.

Raphinha then struck twice in quick succession in the second half, and the game was effectively settled. A goal in the Champions League is worth a lot, and Barcelona's three goals came in a short spell that Villa could not answer. Barcelona also kept a clean sheet, their first in the competition in 18 games, going back to April 2025.

Barcelona went into the match without Andreas Christensen, Eric Garcia and Xavi Espart. The result lifted them above Villa into second place in the league phase table, the group-style table that decides who goes straight through and who has to play extra rounds. Before kick-off, Villa had nine points and Barcelona had six.

Unai Emery, Villa's manager, has a complicated history with this stadium. He took Villa back to Barcelona, the scene of his Champions League defeat with Paris Saint-Germain, and he has lost most of his games here. BBC Sport reported that the defeat takes his Nou Camp record to 15 losses in 16 games. Before this match, he had won only three times in 31 attempts against Barcelona as a manager.

After the final whistle, Emery kept his balance. "Overall, we are competing fantastically in the Champions League, although playing the match we played we have work to do," he said. He also defended Gomes, saying the pair had worked together for years and that mistakes like that had been overcome before. "I am not blaming him," Emery said.

For Villa fans, the night ended in disappointment, but the club had planned a big send-off back home. Villa Park hosted a watch party for up to 2,500 supporters, so the travelling squad was not the only group following the game. Villa still sit in the table with a strong record, and their next steps in the competition will show whether one heavy defeat knocks them off course.

Barcelona, meanwhile, have a result that eases some of the pressure around their defence. They have gone from a six-point start to a position among the leading sides, and they did it while missing three defenders.