Saïd Benrahma Took the shot.
But the ball didn't even make it five yards as Theodore Bjorn appeared out of thin air, throwing his right leg directly into the firing line to violently block the shot.
The sound of leather hitting shin bone echoed across the pitch.
"Crucial intervention from the teenager!" Sky Sports commentator Gary Weaver shouted. "Theodore Bjorn's focus is absolutely razor-sharp tonight. He reads the game two seconds faster than anyone else on the pitch!"
Theodore didn't stand around to admire his block.
The ball deflected perfectly into his path. He took one touch to settle it, glanced up, and launched a sweeping, driving long ball straight over the halfway line.
The pass dropped like a stone toward the edge of the Brentford penalty area.
Andre Green, Villa's 21-year-old backup striker filling in for the injured Tammy Abraham, leaped into the air to contest it.
He was completely destroyed.
Brentford's center-back, Ezri Konsa, launched himself off the grass and violently battered Green out of the way.
Konsa was an England U21 international, a defensive stalwart who had played 32 matches this season.
Green, on the other hand, had exactly four substitute appearances to his name.
The talent gap was painfully obvious. Konsa easily won the header, clearing the danger into the stands.
Villa kept possession off the throw-in.
Alan Hutton chucked the ball to Jack Grealish on the flank, but Brentford had done their homework.
Moses Odubajo and Kamohelo Mokotjo instantly collapsed on the Villa captain.
They didn't just press him, they physically mauled him, violently knocking Grealish to the turf and legally stripping the ball away.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank had bragged to the press that he had a tactical blueprint to neutralize Grealish.
He wasn't lying.
The counter-attack was instantly triggered.
Odubajo poked the loose ball up to Ollie Watkins. The second the ball touched Watkins' feet, he start running.
The 24-year-old was surging down the right flank like a lightning bolt.
Hutton tried to step up and close the angle, but Watkins was too slick. A vicious drop of the shoulder and a blistering change of pace left the veteran Villa full-back completely in the dust.
Watkins tore into the Aston Villa penalty area.
Before Tyrone Mings or Tommy Elphick could even step across to block the shooting lane, Watkins unleashed a shot.
BOOM!
The ball sliced perfectly through the narrow gap between the two center-backs.
Lovre Kalinić didn't even have time to flinch. It ripped into the back of the net like a bullet!
1-0!
"THE BEES DRAW FIRST BLOOD!" Weaver roared as the Brentford Community Stadium erupted.
"Ollie Watkins does it again! His twelfth goal of the campaign!"
"He is the undisputed King Bee of Brentford, Gary," co-commentator Don Goodman added, watching the replay. "Twelve goals and eleven assists this season. He's the only player in the entire Championship sitting on double digits in both categories. That is a twenty-million-pound footballer right there, and he just made Villa pay!"
11th Minute.
Aston Villa was bleeding.
If they wanted to keep their Premier League promotion hopes alive, dropping points tonight wasn't an option.
Dean Smith was screaming from the touchline, frantically waving his full-backs, Taylor and Hutton, higher up the pitch to force the issue.
Villa recycled the ball outside the Brentford box. After a rapid sequence of passes, the ball found its way to Theodore at the top of the penalty arc.
For some unexplainable reason, Brentford had completely backed off.
Terrified of Grealish on the wing, they had left the 17-year-old rookie standing entirely unmarked in the center of the park.
It was a fatal error.
Theodore picked his head up. He had all the time in the world. He saw Andre Green making a darting run toward the penalty spot, but Konsa and Julian Jeanvier were glued to the backup striker like cheap suits.
A direct pass into the center was going to get cleared immediately.
Then, Theodore saw the real run.
Jack Grealish had quietly drifted off the left flank and was slicing diagonally into the right side of the penalty area, completely blind-siding his marker.
'You're dead,' Theodore thought.
He didn't hesitate. With his Long Pass attribute sitting at a limit-broken 100, Theodore whipped his right foot through the ball.
A delicate, chipped lob that floated beautifully over the heads of the entire Brentford backline, It dropped with sickening precision, landing dead in stride with Grealish's run.
The timing was immaculate. Grealish didn't even need to take a touch to control it.
He just let the ball bounce once and lashed a violent volley straight past the keeper.
1-1!
"HE'S BURIED IT! ASTON VILLA STRIKES BACK!" Weaver screamed into the mic. "Jack Grealish with the finish, but my word, look at that delivery from Theodore Bjorn! Absolute perfection!"
"Brentford got caught entirely ball-watching!" Goodman criticized. "They were so obsessed with the striker that they completely lost Grealish, and you simply cannot give a player with Bjorn's vision that much time on the ball. He will carve you open!"
Up in the hostile away stands, tucked safely among the traveling Villa fans, Murat and his daughter were losing their minds.
"What a ball!" Murat cheered, throwing his arms up. "I can't believe the kid who saved me in that alley is a bloody football genius! If only he played for us, he could take the national team to the World Cup!"
His daughter looked at him, confused.
"Dad... isn't he Norwegian?"
"Norwegian-Chinese!" Mulati grinned proudly. "Close enough!"
16th Minute.
The equalizer didn't break Brentford, it only pissed them off.
The home side immediately cranked up the intensity, relentlessly assaulting the Villa defense.
Ollie Watkins collected the ball in the center circle and went to work.
With liquid footwork, he danced past John McGinn and easily brushed off Albert Adomah.
Seeing the midfield collapsing, Theodore and Mile Jedinak both sprinted forward to crush the Brentford star in a double-team.
Watkins wasn't stupid. He had watched the tape on Theodore. He knew that if he let the 17-year-old get within tackling distance, he was going to lose the ball.
A split-second before Theodore arrived, Watkins smartly slipped a pass out to Benrahma on the left wing.
Benrahma blew past the scrambling Villa defense, driving hard toward the byline.
Instead of whipping a blind cross into the box, Benrahma cut the ball sharply backward.
It rolled perfectly to the top of the penalty area, right back into the path of the trailing Watkins.
Watkins didn't take a touch.
He stepped into the shot and unleashed an absolute screamer!
Boom!
The ball rocketed straight into the top corner.
2-1!
"OLLIE WATKINS WITH THE BRACE!" Weaver's voice echoed through the stadium speakers.
"The King Bee strikes again! Aston Villa are staring down the barrel of defeat once more!"
Down on the pitch, Watkins leaped onto the advertising hoardings behind the goal, spreading his arms wide as ten thousand Brentford fans screamed his name.
Dean Smith was furious.
"Push up!" he roared at his squad. "Press them high! Do not let them breathe!"
Three minutes later, Theodore took the manager's words to heart.
Receiving the ball in the attacking third, Theodore found himself immediately swarmed by Mokotjo and Romaine Sawyers.
Brentford wasn't going to make the mistake of leaving him unmarked twice.
They tried to muscle him off the ball but it was a massive mistake.
Channeling his 86-rated Physicality, Theodore didn't back down. He planted his feet, dropped his shoulder, and violently bulldozed straight through the double-team.
Mokotjo bounced off him like a ragdoll.
The teenager was an absolute tank!
Seeing his defensive midfielders get destroyed, Konsa panicked and stepped out of the backline to confront the charging rookie.
Theodore didn't force the dribble. Drawing the elite center-back out of position was exactly what he wanted.
He casually scooped his foot under the ball, launching another perfectly weighted lob over the fractured defensive line toward Grealish.
Grealish brought it down and pulled the trigger for a shot, but Julian Jeanvier threw his body across the grass, executing a desperate block to deflect the ball out of bounds.
"Ah, massive block from Jeanvier!" Weaver praised. "Grealish hesitated for just a fraction of a second, and that was all the Brentford defender needed to save a certain goal!"
Five minutes later, Theodore orchestrated another masterpiece.
Drifting out to the right flank, Theodore whipped a vicious 45-degree cross into the penalty area.
The ball traced a sickeningly deceptive arc, sailing cleanly over the heads of both Konsa and Jeanvier.
A 100-rated Long Pass was a terrifying weapon.
With a single swing of his boot, Theodore had completely paralyzed the entire Brentford defense.
The ball dropped flawlessly at the feet of Andre Green, dead center in the penalty box.
He had all the time in the world.
Green swung his boot to finish it.
And completely scuffed the shot.