Aston Villa beats Viking 3-1 for third Champions League win

Aston Villa beat Norway’s Viking 3-1 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, for its third win in three UEFA Champions League matches.

Ross Barkley opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, and Emiliano Buendía converted a penalty in the 37th to give Villa a 2-0 lead at halftime.

ESPN reported that the penalty was awarded for a foul by Viking’s Zlatko Tripic on Villa’s Alysson and was confirmed by a video review.

Villa’s third goal came in the 62nd minute, when Viking’s Henrik Heggheim put the ball into his own net. Peter Christiansen scored for Viking in the 84th minute, a goal ESPN said stood after a video review.

UEFA named Villa midfielder John McGinn the player of the match. Austrian referee Sebastian Gishamer took charge in front of 33,410 fans, according to UEFA. No player was sent off.

The result keeps Villa among five clubs with a perfect record after three matches. Villa is second in the 36-team league-phase table with nine points, having scored 12 goals and conceded three, according to UEFA’s standings. Paris Saint-Germain leads with the same goal difference and more goals scored.

Liverpool and Real Madrid are also on nine points after Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Villarreal and Madrid’s 4-1 win over Leipzig. Viking has one point and sits 33rd.

Barkley, Buendía and McGinn all started for Villa, along with striker Nicolas Jackson, according to the lineups published by UEFA. Villa’s European form follows its comeback win over Salzburg in the Europa League in January.

The top eight clubs after the eight-match league phase advance directly to the round of 16. Teams finishing ninth to 24th go into a knockout playoff round, and the bottom 12 are eliminated.

Villa’s next Champions League test is at Barcelona on Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. ET (1 p.m. MT). Viking hosts Sabah of Azerbaijan on Nov. 4 at 3 p.m. ET.

Champions League matches are streamed in Canada on DAZN, which holds the competition’s Canadian rights through the 2026-27 season.

Via UEFA and ESPN.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.