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Aston Villa fell to a shock defeat to MSK Zilina but still reached the Uefa Cup’s last 32, thanks to Hamburg’s victory over Slavia Prague.

Zilina took the lead when Vladimir Leitner’s cross went straight in.

They doubled their advantage when Peter Styvar converted Peter Pekarik’s cross after a breakaway.

Nathan Delfouneso, on his full debut for Villa, scored with a superb left-foot volley but Zilina held on despite having Leitner sent off.

Not that the result mattered in terms of Villa’s progress in the competition as Hamburg’s 2-0 win guaranteed Martin O’Neill’s side a top-three finish in the group.

But O’Neill will not be pleased with the way Villa conceded twice to a side who had previously scored only one goal in the whole of the group stages.

Zat Knight, who had earlier seen a header tipped over the bar by Zilina keeper Dusan Pernis, looked a little at fault for Zilina’s first goal.

The defender looked to duck out of heading away Leitner’s floated cross and the ball sailed over him and beyond Brad Guzan’s dive to nestle in the bottom right corner.

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