Ollie Watkins and John McGinn secured a 2-1 victory for Aston Villa in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final against LOSC Lille.

Villa, competing in their first major European last-eight tie for 26 years, will take a one-goal advantage into next week’s second leg in France. Watkins headed home his 25th goal of the season in the 13th minute to send Villa Park into raptures, before Emi Martínez made three superb first-half saves to preserve the hosts’ lead.

And it was captain McGinn who doubled Villa’s tally shortly after half-time with a well-taken low finish from 20 yards.Gabriel Gudmundsson subsequently saw his effort ruled out for offside by VAR, before Bafode Diakite nodded in an 84th-minute reply for the visitors.

It was a crucial victory in the club’s 100th fixture in UEFA competitions and Unai Emery’s 1,000th career match as a head coach. The Villans have now won all six Conference League matches at Villa Park this season, scoring 14 goals in the process, while Lille suffered their first defeat in the competition.

In-form Lille, currently fourth in Ligue 1, reached the quarter-finals courtesy of a 4-1 aggregate victory over Sturm Graz, having topped Group A.

Emery named an unchanged Villa starting line-up as he kept faith with the same XI who played out a 3-3 draw against Brentford in the Premier League last weekend.