Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick as Aston Villa all but secured a Conference League group-stage place with a 5-0 thrashing of Hibernian in their play-off round first leg on Wednesday. The Premier League side started their first European campaign since losing in Europa League qualifying in 2010 in fine style.
Unai Emery’s men, who put four past Everton at the weekend, started strongly as Watkins headed home Lucas Digne’s cross in the 17th minute at Easter Road. Hibs had a penalty appeal waved away soon afterwards but any hopes the Scottish club had of an upset were ended as Watkins and Leon Bailey put former European champions Villa three goals in front before half-time.
Watkins finished another Digne cross to complete his treble less than three minutes into the second period. Douglas Luiz added a fifth from the spot with 16 minutes left to likely allow Emery to rest players for next week’s second leg. Wednesday’s other match saw Dnipro-1 draw 1-1 with Trnava in Slovakia.

Musiala injured in Bayern training
Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala has torn a thigh muscle in training and “needs to take a break for the time being”, the club announced. Bayern staff diagnosed Musiala with a torn “muscle fibre in his left thigh” after he finished training on Wednesday.
German media report Musiala could miss several weeks, including Bayern’s next games against Augsburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach, as well as Germany’s September friendlies against Japan and France. Just 20-years-old, Musiala has established himself as a member of the starting lineup with Bayern and Germany in recent seasons.
The attacking midfielder scored 12 goals and assisted 13 more in 33 league appearances in 2022-23, a combined figure higher than any other Bayern player.

Argentina’s Montiel joins Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest have signed Argentina defender Gonzalo Montiel from Sevilla on a season-long loan with an option to buy, the Premier League club said. Financial details were not disclosed, but Argentine media reported the loan had a purchase option worth 11mn euros.
Montiel made 72 appearances for Sevilla, scoring two goals and providing six assists, since joining from River Plate in 2021. He helped the La Liga side win their seventh Europa League title last season by scoring the decisive penalty in the shootout to beat AS Roma in the final. The right back, who has 23 caps for Argentina, also scored the last penalty to help his country beat France in last year’s World Cup final.