Villa out of Intertoto Cup

Aston Villa 0, Lille 2 (Lille win 3-1 on aggregate)

Aston Villa are facing up to a season without European football after crashing out of the Intertoto Cup at the semi-final stage to Lille.

Villa looked to have done the hard work after drawing 1-1 away to the French side in the first leg last week, but Lille caught Villa cold with two goals in barely a minute either side of half-time.

Graham Taylor now faces a massive task to rebuild the confidence of his players with the start of the Premiership season only 10 days away.

The home side started positively enough but were left to rue missed first half chances and once they had gone behind there was little in the way of creativity to suggest they could rescue the cause.

Villa started promisingly and Lille keeper Gregory Wimbee held onto a downward header from Peter Crouch after he had seized onto a deep cross from Thomas Hitzlsperger.

Darius Vassell, who had recovered from blisters on both feet, threatened for the first time when his pace took him past Mathieu Delpierre into the Lille penalty area but Wimbee was equal to his low left-footed drive.

Little was seen of Little in the early stages, although a low cross from Christophe Landrin only just eluded the onrushing Matt Moussilou who was being employed as the out-and-out striker.

Villa's best chance of the first half fell to Crouch who got completely free in the area after taking a ball from Steve Staunton into his stride, but although his cross-shot eluded Wimbee, Rafael Schmitz was able to get back and clear his goal-bound effort.

Tempers began to get frayed and Ian Taylor was booked after a challenge on Nicolas Bonnal but his opponent then lashed out and escaped punishment.

Barry was involved in an ugly clash with Mathieu which resulted in Sylvain N'Diaye being booked for dissent.

Then in first half injury-time the French side, who had twice impressed against Manchester United in the Champions League last season, took a shock lead.

Abdelilah Fahmi drilled a low free-kick from 25 yards out which took a wicked deflection off the Villa defensive wall and left keeper Peter Enckelman stranded.

That was a big enough blow for the home side but within 35 seconds of the restart Lille doubled their lead.

Enckelman may feel that he should have held the shot driven at him by Phillipe Brunel but the ball rebounded to Nicolas Bonnal who made no mistake.

Villa tried to retaliate with Staunton, sending a glancing header just wide and Vassell and Crouch volleying over when presented with half-chances.

Lille also had a slice of luck when a free-kick from substitute Moustapha Hadji was pushed onto the crossbar by Wimbee who saw the rebound fall straight back into his hands.

But at the other end Enckelman and Olof Mellberg got into a tangle and left Brunel with a shot at goal but he screwed his effort across the area.

N'Diaye was sent off in the 89th minute after becoming involved in a flare-up following a foul on Wimbee by Vassell but it was small consolation for Villa.