Martin O'Neill fields another weakened team in Europe and the inevitable happens once again. Villa make it successive defeats to open 2009-10 as they fall to Rapid in Vienna as Nikica Jelavić scores his first but definitely not his last goal against Villa after 40 seconds to give his side a narrow advantage ahead of the second leg.

Villa face SK Rapid Wien for the first time in competitive football, Rapid become the 159th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football, Villa’s 42nd continental European opponents and their first from Austria.

Villa's disappointing start to the campaign continued after conceding a 41 second goal in Austria to lose their second game in succession under Martin O'Neill

Defender Shane Lowry, 20, makes his Villa debut after coming through the youth ranks to become the 819th player to play for Villa in first team League or Cup football.

For the second successive season, Martin O'Neill oversees a premature exit from Europe mostly due to his team selections. This time round however it was less a surrender than a case of indifference but given the mood of the tetchy Villa boss few wanted to make an issue of his most pronounced achilles heel. 

Defender Shane Lowry makes his second and final appearance for Villa aged 20 before moving on to Millwall in January 2012 for a fee of £243,000.

James Milner scores his 10th goal in a Villa shirt on his 80th appearance (74 Starts) to make it W34 D21 L25, 10 Goals, 17 Assists and 11 Bookings at a goal involvement rate of one every 2.96 games played so far in his Villa career.

Brad Guzan makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (9 Starts) to make it W3 D1 L6, 13 Goals Conceded, 1 Clean Sheet and 1 Booking.

Carlos Cuéllar collects his 5th booking in a Villa shirt on his 41st appearance (37 Starts) to make it W19 D9 L13 and 5 Bookings.

Curtis Davies secures his 30th win in a Villa shirt on his 63rd appearance (58 Starts) to make it W30 D18 L15, 3 Goals, 1 Assist and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.