Despite their brief impression that they had won all three points, Aston Villa had to settle for a draw against Juventus at Villa Park on Wednesday night as their Champions League campaign continued. Emiliano Martinez made a spectacular first-half stop to deny Francisco Conceicao and hold off a very weakened Juventus team, for which Villa were thankful.
Morgan Rogers' goal in stoppage time caused Villa Park to erupt prematurely, but referee Gil Manzano disallowed it for a foul that Diego Carlos allegedly committed against Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio.
After three games at B6, Villa are still undefeated and defensively untested at home. They are currently in ninth place, one spot outside of the top eight, who advance to the competition's round of 16 without taking part in the round preceding it, which is played by teams that finish the group stage between ninth and twenty-fourth.
Here are four things we learnt from the clash at Villa Park.
Kamara was key to Villa's encouraging display
Boubacar Kamara, one of Emery's best exponent of applying rest defense, ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament while counter-pressing Manchester United midfielder Casemiro in February.
Villa's decline in performance was directly linked to Kamara's eight-month absence, which left a void in central midfield. The french internationals inclusion against Juventus showed just how critical he is for Emery's pursuit of control and possessive patience.
Alongside Youri Tielemans, Kamara offered reliability on the ball and played an increased amount of short passes with extra touches.
On counter-attacking opportunities, he would play quick balls forward with an increased range.
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Villa still look as though they lack a wide outlet
Despite a very positive overall performance from Emery's side, Villa still seem to be missing something creative out on the wing.
Villa set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which meant Morgan Rogers and Leon Bailey were sat in front of attacking full-backs Lucas Digne and Matty Cash.
Although both of them carried the ball forward positively in attack, it seemed that Aston Villa's wide outlets were unable to find the feet of their talisman, Ollie Watkins.
Bailey had his work cut out by Kenan Yildiz, as he only managed a 70% accurate pass rate.
As for Rogers, he has played a key role in Villa's midfield so far this season, and as a result was called up to international duty with England. However, on Wednesday evening it was Rogers who lost the most duels (10) in the game against Juve.
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Villa remain defensively untested at home in the Champions League
Villa have been challenged in three difficult encounters at Villa Park during their first season back in the Champions League for 40 years.
So far, they have played at home against Bayern Munich, Bologna and Juventus.
Emiliano Martinez has managed to keep a clean sheet against all opponents so far in this competition when playing at their home ground.
Before arriving in Birmingham, the Old Lady had scored at least one goal in five out of their six previous fixtures. However, Martinez once again proved why he in the world's number one, with an unbelievable goal line save to deny Juventus from taking the lead in the first-half.
This was Aston Villa's first clean sheet in six games but their third out of their three home fixtures in the Champions League.
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A point represented a positive result for Villa
When Thiago Motta arrived for his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon, he broke out into a smile when an Italian journalist relayed Emery's comments from earlier in the day, when the Villa manager emphasised "taking a point is good".
Emery's side had a desire to maintain control and make short passes to avoid transition based scenarios and harden a creaking defence.
The Spaniard set his team up in a way that increased the chances of a draw, and whenever Villa Park encouraged an attack, all Emery would do is signal composure.
As the Villa boss explained, three points would be significant in qualifying within the top eight of the Champions League format, but a point keeps Villa on solid ground in reaching the competitions next phase.
Given that Villa went into this fixture with a run of six matches without a win, a draw represented a positive result.
Aston Villa now turn their focus back to the Premier League, as they face a difficult Chelsea side at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
