Aston Villa were unable to win all three points against Leeds United but drew 3-3 in a tense thriller on Wednesday night despite stunning performances from Jacob Ramsey and a highly-revitalised Philippe Coutinho.
Brazil international and former Liverpool ace Coutinho drew first blood for Villa besides brilliantly setting up both of Ramsey’s strikes which had put Villa in a comfortable 3-1 advantage just minutes before half-time.
Unfortunately for the Villans, Dan James’ second goal reduced Leeds’ deficit before the half time interval and centre-back Diego Llorente scored the equaliser in the second half.
Villa head coach Steven Gerrard was quick to praise Leeds’ performance after the whistle, but also selected Coutinho for his brilliant individual display.
“You should stop watching football if you don’t like watching Coutinho,” he said afterwards.
Leeds right-back Luke Ayling was the sentinel assigned to keep a tight lid on Coutinho, and he commented post-match felt that he adjusted as best he could as the game progressed.
When BBC put the question to him if he enjoyed squaring up against the Brazilian maverick, Ayling’s reply was decisive: “No!
“Naa, we worked hard to get here so when you come up against players like that it’s a good learning curve.
“But I stuck to my task and I felt I did alright as the game went on.”