Aston Villa beat Brighton at a raucous Villa Park to secure a return to European football after a 13-year absence.
Villa needed to win to secure seventh place in the Premier League and earn a spot in the play-offs for the third-tier Europa Conference League.
They made a dream start as, after Leon Bailey had hit the crossbar, they took the lead in the eighth minute when the club’s Player of the Year Douglas Luiz slid the ball home from Jacob Ramsey’s pullback.
Ramsey got another assist 18 minutes later when he collected a through ball and, just as away goalkeeper Jason Steele slid at his feet, knocked a sideways pass to Ollie Watkins for the England striker to score his 15th league goal of the season.
Brighton thought they had scored when Deniz Undav volleyed in, but Julio Enciso was ruled offside by the video assistant referee before he crossed for his team-mate.
But in the 38th minute a VAR decision went Undav’s way when he scored following a quickly taken free-kick by Pascal Gross, with the assistant referee saying it was offside before being over-ruled by officials at Stockley Park.
Villa, who won the European Cup in 1982, last played in European competition in 2010, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Austrian side Rapid Vienna in the Europa League play-offs.
Despite a nervous second half against Brighton, they held on to the victory they needed to spark celebrations in the stands.
