Aston Villa's Uefa Cup challenge has ended this year as they lost in Russia in sub-zero temperatures on a plastic turf on the Luzhniki Stadium in the second leg of their knockout tie against CSKA Moscow.

The Birmingham outfit never really created anything on the pitch with which it could have threatened the Russians. Villa's squad was depleted of manpower and it showed all over. After the match, the Villa manager, Martin O'Neill was quick to stand behind his young players who went out to defend Villa's shirt but ultimately didn't stand a chance.

Martin O'Neill told the club's TV channel that he was impressed by Marc Albrighton and Barry Bannan, who were handed their senior debuts against the 2005 winners of the competition.

"We had two players making their debuts and I thought Marc and Barry did exceptionally well in the circumstances - very well indeed. I thought we were always in the game. We always felt we were capable of scoring a goal and we had one or two opportunities to do so," he said.

"We tried our utmost but it wasn't to be."

Aston Villa went to Moscow without eight first-team regulars and managed to survive the first half, but apart from a dogged resistance in defence, Villa offered little in offensive creativity. 

Eventually, Yuri Zhirkov fired an effort from the edge of the box to put CSKA ahead. It  wasn't all doom and gloom, and a single goal would have levelled things and force the proceedings to extra time and, possibly, even penalties.

As Villa searched for an equaliser, but not in a very confident manner, they were caught off-guard when Vagner Love slotted another one for the hosts in the dying seconds of the match to ensure that the Russians were sound home and dry. A 1-1 draw in the first leg at Villa Park and a decisive 2-0 win at home put CSKA Moscow into the next round.

There was little Villa can do about it, given that Gareth Barry, Brad Friedel, Emile Heskey, James Milner, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Carlos Cuellar and Stiliyan Petrov were all left out of the squad.

Not all of them were injured, wrong or right it is manager Martin O'Neill's policy which emphascises a top four finish in the League, assuring a lucrative Champions League spot for next season, rather than potential further progression in the Uefa Cup at the expense of the club's league standing.