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Donyell Malen has a cut to the head and two more goals to his name after leading Aston Villa to the verge of automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Europa League against a backdrop of more crowd violence from Young Boys supporters. The Netherlands striker exemplifies Villa’s strength in depth but this 10th win in 12 games was marred by visiting fans ripping up seats, throwing missiles at stewards and Villa players – one striking Malen – and fighting with police. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, no team has won more European games at home (13 from 15) than Unai Emery’s side. The Villa manager looks a decent bet to win this competition for a fifth time this season. It was in Berne last season that Young Boys fans reacted angrily to a Villa goalscorer when Jhon Durán netted, before being given offside, in his side’s Champions League victory. But their supporters have more history for this sort of trouble after being fined for incidents in Champions League games away to Manchester City and Celtic last season. They surely face more Uefa action after this latest episode. Emery gave the trouble the least oxygen possible – “We need respect for both sides, ” the Villa head coach said. “It is not necessary to have what we had today” – but Gerardo Seoane, the Young Boys coach, was more forthcoming. He apologised for the crowd trouble but balanced this by suggesting they perhaps felt provoked by Villa players celebrating near their place in the lower tier of the Doug Ellis Stand. There was a five-minute hold-up after Malen’s second goal. Fighting broke out with police even as Loris Benito, the Young Boys captain, went over to plead for peace from his team’s supporters. At least three trouble-makers were escorted away by police. “It’s normal when you score a goal that you want to celebrate with your teammates, ” Seoane said. “Our fans maybe took this like a provocation, but I think this is part of the football. Our fans should not react so heavily. “The referee asked our captain to go to our supporters, and he was going there to calm a bit, and some supporters came down to have a talk. [But] the police reacted like [the fans] would jump into the pitch, but it was not their intention, and I think [the police] reacted a bit early. “It’s a pity for everybody – for the provocations, for throwing the object, for thinking that somebody would jump on the pitch – and the result is not nice for anybody, and for sure we apologise. We don’t feel good. “The way our supporters are normally, it is not how we want to act when we are guests somewhere. Nobody wins at the end; everybody loses with this situation. ” Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion The Swiss fans had initially helped dictate the positive atmosphere before Malen’s first goal. Their orchestrated clapping, drumming, pogoing and chanting had helped give the early kick-off what sense there was of a continental occasion although what followed each of the first-half goals was unacceptable by any standards. The trouble intensified after Malen doubled the lead three minutes before half-time. As the Dutch forward smiled on doing a knee-slide in the general direction of the travelling fans, they responded by ripping out seats to hurl alongside more plastic cups at the increased presence of police and stewards. It had at least been a very satisfactory half on the field for Villa as they set up a seventh successive home win. Malen, who set up Morgan Rogers’ equaliser as an impact substitute in Sunday’s win at Leeds , made the most of his hour at centre-forward. Marvin Keller had had to tip over his brilliant 25-yard shot in the fourth minute and both Evann Guessand and Amadou Onana came close to opening the scoring before Malen headed in Youri Tielemans’ cross as eight players were involved in the buildup. The move for the second goal was somewhat more direct but no less aesthetically pleasing. Malen took Rogers’s superb through pass in his stride down the inside-left channel before cutting back to smash in his sixth goal of the season. Although Chris Bedia had one goal disallowed for offside, Joël Monteiro did wallop home a consolation goal, and this time VAR could not deny Young Boys their moment of celebration. After all the political backdrop to the last Europa League game here, when tickets were not on sale for Maccabi Tel Aviv’s fans in expectation of Free Palestine protests, Villa will head to Basel next month hoping for a calm trip and the three points that should safeguard the top-eight finish that would preclude any need of a two-legged play-off in February.