With Villa riding high on five successive victories, it was little surprise to see them fly out of the traps in the Netherlands.
It didn’t take them long to make their pressure tell, and although there was an element of fortune to it, as Eagles goalkeeper Jari De Busser fumbled Jadon Sancho’s cross at the feet of Evann Guessand, the Ivorian reacted quickly to awkwardly bundle the ball over the line.
Indeed, Sancho was at the heart of everything good about Villa in the early stages, creating a great opening to double their advantage when he drove through the heart of the hosts’ defence, before teeing up Emi Buendía, who could only fire straight at De Busser.
The Go Ahead stopper certainly didn’t cover himself in glory for the opener, but he went some way to redeeming himself afterwards, producing another fine save shortly before the half-hour mark to deny Guessand, who had been sent racing through on goal by Buendía.
Even so, the Dutch side had offered almost nothing in an attacking sense through the opening 45 minutes, but they incredibly levelled on the stroke of HT.
Villa’s attempted offside trap for the Eagles’ free-kick failed miserably as Mathis Suray timed his run to perfection, controlled perfectly and watched on with glee as his deflected strike looped into the far corner.
It was Villa doing all the pushing after the break, but in the unlikeliest of circumstances, the third goal went the way of Go Ahead Eagles.
There was certainly an element of surprise as to how it came about, as centre back Joris Kramer dropped a perfect 40-yard pass onto the chest of his defensive compatriot Mats Deijl, who took one touch to control before dinking over the on-rushing Emiliano Martínez with his second.
Unsurprisingly, Unai Emery was growing ever more frustrated on the touchline as the home faithful celebrated, making a quadruple change 25 minutes from time in a desperate attempt to get his side back into the game.
That near-wholesale switch saw Emery introduce some big guns, who he’d undoubtedly planned on resting for the weekend.
One of those substitutes, Matty Cash, played a key role in Villa having a huge opportunity to get back on level terms, as his cross was blocked by the arm of Dean James.
Buendía assumed responsibility from 12 yards, as he elected to go high, he was left red faced when his penalty flew harmlessly over the bar.
Villa were totally dominant in the closing stages, coming within a whisker of a late equaliser when Morgan Rogers curled an effort inches wide of the target.
The Midlands outfit were ultimately unable to find an elusive equaliser, and not only did their winning run come to an end, but they also missed the chance to post successive away wins in major European competition for the first time since November 2008.
The night belonged to Go Ahead Eagles, who enjoyed arguably the most famous night in their history and moved level on points with Villa in the league phase table.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Joris Kramer (Go Ahead Eagles)