Going into the penultimate matchday of their Champions League group stage campaign, Monaco had been winless since the turn of the year. Their ongoing crisis had found its root in a late collapse at

A solitary strike from Wilfried Singo afforded Monaco a narrow 1-0 Champions League victory over Aston Villa on Tuesday night. Unai Emery challenged his players to become a "protagonist" of this season's Champions League.

Passing into the mouth of danger once and being bitten early did not scare Villa away from their desire to play the same way. When passes were crisp and accurate, they broke through Monaco lines, with Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey all having shooting opportunities.