Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. West Ham United – Fri, Jan 10th 2025, 20:00
Amadou Onana discussed the feeling of scoring and winning on a “special” night at Villa Park, as Aston Villa celebrated their 150th Anniversary with a 2-1 win over West Ham United.
The Villans booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup, coming from behind to beat the Hammers with two goals in six second-half minutes.
And, having netted the goal which dragged Villa level with 19 minutes to play, Onana described his emotions on the VillaTV Post-Match Live show.
He said: “It was really special. That’s the right way to celebrate it for the fans. I think we needed a win.
“They came tonight supporting us, giving us the extra cheer we needed, so I’m really grateful for that.
“It was very special because I’ve never scored at Villa Park so far.
“The last couple of weeks for me have been very frustrating. I’ve been out with my injury for four or five weeks, then I came back, started enjoying it, then I had the flu, went back out the team.
“I really needed this energy and the goal. The little stare [celebration] was to let them [Villa fans] know I’m back!
“That’s the part of my game that was missing a little bit last season, and I’m trying to add more goals to my game.”
The Belgian midfielder explained how, after an opening period in which Unai Emery’s men were frustrated by Graham Potter’s Irons, a tactical tweak at the break gave them more joy in the second half.
Onana was pleased with his own performance, having come on as a 23rd-minute substitute, and lauded the team’s character to turn the tie around.
“The first half, they were very, very compact.
“They didn’t let any balls through the middle, so it was quite hard for me and Youri [Tielemans].
“But then at half-time, the gaffer made a couple of tactical changes, took Bouba [Kamara] on the side to play a little free, to create an overload on the side.
“Once we got there, we did pretty well, so I’m very happy with the performance tonight.
“Coming in was really difficult because I didn’t have any warming up. I didn’t even see Ross [Barkley] getting injured.
“I managed to find my rhythm throughout the game and I’m quite happy with it tonight.”
