Aston Villa beat Bologna 2-0 on Tuesday thanks to second-half goals from John McGinn and Jhon Durán, extending a perfect start to their first Champions League season in 41 years with three wins.

Villa’s win means they are provisionally at the top of Europe’s elite club competition with nine points and have not yet conceded a goal. Bologna has one point after a draw and two defeats.

“What we’re building here is amazing,” McGinn said. “Three games played, three wins and the most important thing for us is that we don’t concede any goals. We don’t want to stop here. That puts us in a great position. Some players have come back and now we look really strong.”

Unai Emery’s side had numerous chances before McGinn scored in the 55th minute, sending a free-kick over a sea of ​​heads into the far corner. After a VAR check for a possible handball, Villa’s captain’s goal stood.

Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images

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Duran, who won with late-game heroics against Bayern Munich three weeks ago, doubled the lead in the 64th minute when Morgan Rogers lifted a cross toward the box and the sweeping forward beat defender Jhon Lucumí and sent the ball into the bottom corner lap.

Ollie Watkins replaced Duran immediately after the goal and the Colombian looked angry as he stomped onto the bench.

“(Duran) scored the goal and it was fantastic and he wanted more because he thought he could score more goals,” Emery said. “He did a very good job and the last few minutes are for Watkins to move on.”

Bologna, who have one win in all competitions so far this season – a Serie A win at Monza last month – only threatened for brief moments in the first half.

They had an early chance through Thijs Dallinga, who intercepted a through ball from Dan Ndoye, but Villa keeper Emi Martinez dived to block his attempt from the danger area.

Villa, fourth in the Premier League, largely dominated the rest of the game and narrowly missed several chances in the first half.

McGinn almost scored with a long-range shot but Bologna keeper Lukasz Skorupski stopped him, while Morgan Rogers’ long-range effort went wide just before half-time.

Jacob Ramsey almost scored Villa’s third goal at the death but failed in a one-on-one.

“We play seriously, we play with concentration, responsibility and the team is making progress and is mature in everything,” said Emery.

Villa next host Club Brugge in the new 36-team league phase, with the top eight automatically progressing to the round of 16.