Republic of Ireland centre-half John Egan was red carded for Sheffield United as Aston Villa opened their Premier League campaign with a 1-0 victory at Villa Park.
Ezri Konsa proved to be the match winner, netting the all-important goal after Emiliano Martinez denied the visitors with a first-half penalty save.
Villa were playing with a man more than their opponents from the 12th minute when Blades captain Egan was shown a straight red card having been deemed to have denied Ollie Watkins a goalscoring opportunity.
But it took a great stop from debutant Martinez to prevent them from falling behind in the 36th minute as the summer signing from Arsenal kept out John Lundstram's spot-kick.
The hosts' subsequent attempts to add a second saw Jack Grealish send a couple of efforts wide, and Trezeguet and McGinn do likewise, but the one goal proved enough in the end.
