Gareth Barry scored on his 400th club appearance as Aston Villa came from behind to defeat ill-disciplined Litex Lovech 3-1 in their Uefa Cup first round first leg clash. Barry converted a 72nd-minute penalty to celebrate the landmark after the Bulgarian Cup holders were reduced to nine men at the Gradski Stadion.
Nigel Reo-Coker netted for the second time in as many games to haul Martin O'Neill's side level on the stroke of half-time after a gaffe from goalkeeper Uros Golubovic.
Arguably that mistake altered the shape of the contest and red cards for Cedric Cambon and Mihail Venkov in the second period further enhanced Villa's position in the tie.
Litex's Brazilian-influenced midfield dictated the opening period, however, and they might have added to Bulgaria international Ivelin Popov's curling free-kick which opened the scoring in the 10th minute.
Villa manager Martin O'Neill highlighted Reo-Coker's equalizing goal as the turning point. The goal gave Villa confidence and they added further goals with Barry's penalty and Petrov's late effort sealing a 3-1 win.
"It took ages and ages to get into it and Nigel's goal just before half-time changed the complexion of the game," O'Neill told five. "Just a minute before half-time they missed and within a minute we had scored at the other end.
"I said before the start that win, lose or draw, getting the away goal was the most important thing. I was pleased we scored the third goal because we have a lot to learn from European football.
"But we have put ourselves in a good position."
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