Heskey (left) and Sidwell (right) scored the goals as Villa beat Porto

An injury-hit Aston Villa side beat Porto 2-1 on Friday to reach Sunday's Peace Cup final against Juventus.

Goals from Emile Heskey and Steve Sidwell gave Martin O'Neill's side a strong half-time advantage.

And despite Heskey receiving a red card on 67 minutes and Porto striker Hulk scoring a late penalty, they held on.

Villa were without the injured Stiliyan Petrov and Luke Young, while James Milner, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Craig Garner have been given extended breaks.

606: DEBATE We beat a team that got to the Champions league quarter finals with 10 men, the majority of them youth players claretnbluevillan

New signing Stewart Downing could be out until Christmas as he is recovering from a foot injury and left-back Wilfred Bouma is battling to be fit after missing last season with a dislocated ankle.

Heskey was sent off after a confrontation with Porto defender Maicon.

The final of the pre-season tournament is in Seville.

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