Aston Villa suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at the hands of MSK Zilina of Slovakia in their UEFA group F game at Villa Park. The Midlanders fell behind early in the game following two quick goals from Leitner and Styvar. They pulled one back through young Nathan Delfouneso on the half hour but,  in spite of the sending off of Leitner in the last quarter, couldn't draw level in the late stages of the game. Villa, by virtue of the other result in the group, are still assured safe passage to the next stage of the competition but will have to battle with Hamburg for first place in the group in their last game. Zilina, who were playing their last group game at Villa Park, are out of the competition.

Martin O'Neill rested eight regulars for this game, including Barry, Laursen and Agbonlahor. He handed rare starts to Guzan in goal, Harewood upfront, Delfouneso and Osborne in midfield and Knight at the back. Luke Young returned at left back while Reo-Coker was drafted on the right side of defence. The Slovakians were at full strength but played a conservative 4-5-1 formation, with Styvar the furthest forward.

Villa looked rather shaky and uncomfortable from the start, particularly in defence,  while the Slovakians, who needed a win to stand a chance of qualifying,  went all out. They were soon rewarded when, at the end of the first quarter, an innocuous-looking cross wasn't dealt with by Knight, which fooled Guzan in goal. If MSK's first goal was slightly fortunate, their second, only three minutes later, was a great piece of counterattacking football, orchestrated by Adauto. After a sweeping move, the Brazilian offensive midfielder found Pekarik on the right wing and the defender's teasing cross was expertly diverted beyond Guzan by Styvar for 2-0. Villa had barely got in the game by then and started to come out, mainly through Ashley young who, in the absence of Barry, was in a central midfield position. It took a moment of inspiration for Villa to pull one back. On 28 minutes, Nathan Delfouneso fired in a great low volley from the edge of the box, after being well set up by Harewood. That was to be Villa's highlight in the first half, during which were they were second best in spite of having more than their fair share of possession. Knight and Cuellar were woefully out of tune at the back while Hareweod failed to threaten in the box. The Slovakians reached half time with a deserved one-goal lead.

As things didn't show much signs of improving in the second half, O'Neill had to sent on Barry, Milner and Agbonlahor in quick succession after the hour mark. Villa dominated throughout the half, but apart from Ashley Young, they were vastly disappointing. Gardner had the best chances and was foiled in the nick of time by Pekarik. He angled a free header wide while Barry and Harewood had a couple of efforts that went astray. Milner did make some inroads on the left hand side but his crosses were well dealt with on the whole by a Zilina side desperate to hold on to a rare victory. They were still dangerous on the break and nearly caught Villa out with some powerful runs from Adauto. As they were getting close to the finishing line, they resorted to questionable methods to stop Villa's paciest players. Leitner was booked first for a cynical tug on A. Young then given his marching orders for an identical foul on Agbonlahor. In spite of their numerical superiority, Villa could not find a breakthrough. In the last minute of injury time, Gardner had another header that struck the outside of the post but the Slovakians held out for a famous victory.

Martin O'Neill will not have been pleased by the result and by the fact that he had to commit players that he wanted to spare for this game. Marlon Harewood was again rather listless upfront and this could be one of his last games for Villa. At the back, Cuellar and Knight clearly lacked chemistry. On the plus side, Delfouneso had a good game and scored his first senior goal while Gardner, in spite of failing to find the mark, proved that he deserves more chances in the first team.