Villa 3 Atlante 1 - Analysis

The manager was sent to the stands for shoving the ball into the chest of an Atlante player, with his side already a goal down and having lost skipper Stiliyan Petrov to a dislocated shoulder.

But the claret and blues dug deep to find the three goals they needed to seal a last-four date with Porto courtesy of efforts from Marc Albrighton, John Carew and Ashley Young.

Sidwell reckons O'Neill's dismissal fired up the players after they had deservedly fell behind.

The player said: "I think the manager's sending off probably had a motivating effect on us.

"We came in at half-time and had a few words, so we went out second-half and as a team we performed much better. It was just one of those things with the gaffer.

"He's an eccentric man. He wears his heart on his sleeve. It was getting a bit tedious.

"You know the Mexican players, as they are, they go down and it's just one of those things you've got to deal with.

"It can get a bit too much sometimes, but we stuck together and pulled it out."

Villa kicked off knowing they needed to win by two clear goals to progress and O'Neill made just one change from the side which lost to Malaga, bringing in Brad Guzan for Brad Friedel in goal.

Atlante seized control and the challenge grew even harder in the 19th minute, when Petrov was forced off with a dislocated shoulder after falling awkwardly.

Things went from bad to worse within a minute, when Atlante took the lead when Curtis Davies turned a cross from the left into his own net. Now Villa needed three.

And the CONCACAF Champions League winners were a whisker away from making it two soon afterwards.

Christian Bermudez's threaded pass took a deflection and fell kindly into the path of Giancarlo Maldonado, but his shot flew inches past the post.

A disastrous first half was compounded by O'Neill's sending off in the 35th minute.

The Villa boss was angered by the Mexicans' attempts to get Ashley Young booked by making a meal of the England star's challenge in front of the dugout.

O'Neill responded by pushing the ball into the chest of an Atlante player and he was consequently sent to the stands.

To rub salt into the wounds, his dismissal was announced over the tannoy. But he claret and blue fans voiced their support for O'Neill by chanting his name.

Hope hovered over the horizon, when Albrighton lashed in a rebound in the 38th minute, after Carew's diving header had been superbly saved.

Villa moved a step closer to what had looked an improbable fightback two minutes after the restart, when Carew punished some disastrous defending from Atlante's centre-back's to drill home.

The comeback was complete on 62 minutes, when man-of-the-match Ashley Young dived at the far post to convert a cross from the lively Albrighton.

It left plenty of time for the Mexicans to score though, with only a fine reaction save from Guzan to tip over a Daniel Arreola header keeping Villa on course.

But survive they did – the second-half display their best of pre-season – to seal a date with the team who denied O'Neill the UEFA Cup as Celtic boss.