After Jhon Durán scored, with another ludicrously powerful strike, he celebrated by showing the Aston Villa supporters the palms of his hands, as if to say: “Calm down, what else did you possibly expect?” Perhaps it explains why Unai Emery, hands in the pockets of his long black puffer coat, was unmoved. Another substitute, Ross Barkley, ultimately earned victory with stoppage time looming, however, after RB Leipzig twice pegged Villa back, Loïs Openda and Christoph Baumgartner cancelling out goals by John McGinn and that dreamy strike from Durán.

Villa supporters crooned Emery’s name throughout and his changes proved inspired. Durán made another timely contribution and Barkley scored within two minutes of replacing Youri Tielemans. Barkley took aim from the edge of the box and his right-foot shot took a wicked deflection off the Germany defender Lukas Klostermann, wrongfooting the goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, to push Villa up to third. With a trip to Monaco and a home game against Celtic remaining in the league phase, Villa are in a fine spot to make a play for the top eight.

“At the beginning we were trying to be protagonists, now we have achieved to be in the top 24, and now maybe we have the chance to be in the top eight,” Emery said. “We have two more matches and we will be motivated, our target now is higher than when we started this competition. We have recovered our confidence a little bit, after winning the last two matches in the Premier League. It was important to try and take another step forward in the Champions League.”

Villa made the perfect start, McGinn capping a neat move inside 153 seconds after clever play by Ollie Watkins. Matty Cash, operating at right wing-back, cut infield on to his left foot and floated a cross towards Watkins, who spied McGinn and cushioned a downward header into the path of his captain. McGinn, who darted clear of Nicolas Seiwald, applied a crisp finish. Watkins eluded Lutsharel Geertruida, a summer transfer target for Villa, who signed from Feyenoord.

More than 2,000 Villa supporters travelled for Villa’s first game in Germany, many of whom spent the afternoon wandering the tributaries of the feelgood Christmas markets and indulging in glühwein. McGinn’s goal brought more cheer and Villa dominated the opening 27 minutes, until Leipzig equalised with their first meaningful attack. Morgan Rogers sent a shot straight at Gulacsi and Tielemans skewed wide at the end of a slick team move, Watkins, back in the starting lineup despite Durán’s winner at the weekend, squaring the ball after McGinn combined with Lucas Digne. Cash also sliced an effort wide. Watkins was replaced by Durán at the interval owing to a “small injury”.

Villa gifted Club Brugge a route to victory last month, after Tyrone Mings picked the ball up from an Emiliano Martínez kick, and while Leipzig’s leveller was not as humiliating, it was a costly error. This time Martínez was the culprit, though Diego Carlos should also shoulder some of the blame. Siewald played a long diagonal pass downfield and Openda whizzed between Cash and Ezri Konsa to latch on to the ball, to the surprise of Diego Carlos and his goalkeeper, who rushed out of goal to hoover up the danger. But Openda seized on the mix-up to swipe the ball clear of an exposed Martínez and tucked it home into an empty net.

When Durán is on the field he usually leaves an imprint. Early in the second half Boubacar Kamara sent a weak effort at Gulacsi that lacked conviction but the same could not be said for Durán’s latest beauty. The move started with Martínez and culminated in Durán looping an unstoppable shot over Gulacsi from almost 30 yards. Martínez cannoned a pass into Tielemans, who played a one-two with Rogers, and then released Durán, who marauded forward, only one thing in his mind. Last time it was Manuel Neuer and Bayern Munich, this time Gulacsi and Leipzig. Six minutes later Durán thought he had doubled his tally for the night but Cash, who squared the ball to the penalty spot after Konsa fizzed a pass inside the right channel, was fractionally offside in the buildup.

Leipzig, trailing and rarely threatening with Benjamin Sesko muted, sought to repeat an earlier trick. This time Benjamin Henrichs supplied the booming diagonal pass downfield, with Openda surging between Diego Carlos and Konsa in the left channel. Martínez momentarily ran from his goal, as if trying to spook the Leipzig forward, but quickly reversed. Openda expertly controlled the ball and, now under pressure, spotted Baumgartner drifting towards the back post. Openda managed to loft a pass over the head of Pau Torres and Baumgartner hooked the ball across the face of goal and past Martínez.

Emery would have been inwardly raging at the manner in which his team conceded two cheap goals, Leipzig seemingly en route to recording their first point in the competition. But with five minutes of normal time remaining Barkley, with the assistance of a major deflection, put Villa on course for the last 16. “We are feeling strong and comfortable in the Champions League,” Emery said.