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Senior Writer- • Joined ESPN in 2011
• Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours
• Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018
BIRMINGHAM, England -- The echoes of history were inescapable on Wednesday at Villa Park. After a 41-year wait to return to top-level European football, Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League repeated the scoreline which secured their sole European Cup triumph on May 26, 1982.
Just like that memorable night in Rotterdam, where Peter Withe scored the most famous goal in the club's history over the German giants, Villa were outplayed for periods of the match and had to weather several storms, but they struck against the run of play to secure another famous victory as striker Jhon Durán wrote his name into folklore.
Villa's 1982 triumph is immortalised all around the stadium: a quote of the commentary for Withe's winning goal hugs the top of the Doug Ellis Stand, while the PA system blared out The Beautiful South's "Rotterdam" moments before the teams walked out on Wednesday.
It was always going to be an emotional evening given that one of the 1982 squad, striker Gary Shaw, passed away on Sept. 16. Memories of Shaw were everywhere: William McGregor's statue was covered in tributes, Shaw's name was included at the foot of the Villa team in the match programme, and a seat was reserved for him in the press room.
Ahead of kickoff, fans of all ages along Trinity Road were wearing their 1982 commemorative jerseys. One fan even wore the same beer-soaked top he had on in Rotterdam all those years ago -- he said it has been cleaned since, but the stains suggested it has stories to tell.
For Villa supporters whose memory stretches back that far -- including Prince William, who was in attendance on Wednesday -- there are two dates etched into their minds: the win over Bayern in 1982, but also their last European Cup night at Villa Park in March 1983, when they lost 2-1 to a Juventus team including legends like Michele Platini, Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardelli and Dino Zoff.
Villa have had other dalliances in European football since -- they qualified for the UEFA Cup/Europa League 11 times, their best finish being a quarterfinal against Atlético Madrid in 1998, they won the Intertoto Cup in 2001, and reached the semifinals of the Conference League last season -- but their return to the top table this season is something special.
Villa fan Mark Goodwin, who was present over 40 years ago for the games against Bayern and Juventus, was there again for Bayern on Wednesday. This time he brought his father's ashes with him, to leave near his seat at Villa Park. "[He was] Born and bred in Aston, he went to the 1957 Cup final and loads before. I just had to do it," Goodwin tells ESPN. "This was the biggest night at Villa Park since we played that wonderful team in 1983."
The legacy of 1982
Villa's captain for the 1982 European Cup final was Dennis Mortimer, who is now part of the club's honorary anniversary board. His side edged out Ipswich Town to win the old First Division in 1981 -- their first title in 71 years, and a feat he regards as the pinnacle of his career -- to secure a place in Europe for the following season, but manager Ron Saunders' resignation in February (due to a disagreement with chairman Ron Bendall over a new contract) sent shockwaves through the club.
Reaching the European Cup final with two-legged wins over Iceland's Valur, Germany's BFC Dynamo, Ukraine's Dynamo Kiev, and Belgium's Anderlecht, Villa were heavy underdogs as they faced Bayern in Rotterdam under Saunders' old assistant Tony Barton. The Villa team didn't have a single international player, but Bayern featured three players who would go on to start for Germany in that summer's World Cup final against Italy.
Things started badly for Villa as they lost first-choice goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer to injury after just nine minutes. But his replacement Nigel Spink -- in only his second appearance -- stood tall, and Withe tapped home in the 67th minute for what would be the most famous goal in club history.
"Having seen the 1982 match, anything else is a backward step," says Villa fan Nigel Waldron, whose car number plate reads '1982 AV'. Waldron watched Wednesday's match from Las Vegas having made the holiday booking in January, never expecting his team to be back at the top table. But the hope is that the successes of the 2024 group can ensure the 1982 immortals are remembered forever.
"What the club's got to try and do this season is make sure the past is something that is brought to life again for the fans," Mortimer says. "For those young players or these young supporters, this might be the time when they realise Aston Villa in the early 1980s was a very, very big club.
"You feel not everybody is aware we won this trophy in 1982, and this is what you want to bring home to those younger people: we did have a team that won it once. So the thought will be: Well, can we go on and win it again?"
A journey of discovery
Aston Villa's journey back to European glory hasn't been straightforward. Five years after they became European champions, Villa were relegated and struggling with debt. They were promoted back the following season and went on to become founder members of the Premier League in 1992, before winning the 1994 and 1996 League Cups, even enjoying more forays into Europe.
But they suffered relegation again in 2016, with more financial troubles and new owners before returning to the top flight in 2019. The appointment of former Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Villarreal boss Unai Emery in October 2022 changed things for the better and after finishing fourth last season, Champions League nights have now returned to Villa Park.
"Who would have thought six years ago, when we were languishing in the lower reaches of the Championship with no hope of even getting out of that division very quickly, that we'd be playing in the top competition in Europe tonight?" Goodwin says.
Following every twist and turn has been supporters' club "The Punjabi Villains." Jag Kalaar has been supporting Villa since 1977 and remembers getting his updates via Aston-based radio station BRMB and Radio West Midlands, heading to the newsagents an hour after full-time and picking up The Sports Argus paper (nicknamed 'The Pink,' published between 1897 and 2006) before devouring highlights on Match of the Day.
Nim Gill became a fan after he received a hand-me-down Villa shirt from his friend's older brother, but it was a tough task to attend matches. "Due to cultural beliefs and rabid, blatant racism, my parents would not let me go to matches as a youngster," he says. "However, I did sneak away to several."
Kalaar adds: "Being Punjabi and Sikh, as well as having the traditional long hair tied in a top knot, it was difficult to attend football games. As we know, racism was rife in the 1970s and '80s and this wasn't just verbal. I recall my friends and I being chased through the park by skinheads, and we weren't even at the match, just playing in the local park. Today going to a game with your son or family and friends is a nice experience. The game is open to all, and for me it's become like a day out, away from the chores of work and general life!"
For both, Emery's first match in charge, when Villa beat Manchester United 3-1 at Villa Park in 2022, is a favourite memory. It was a moment that gave them hope and laid the groundwork for this Champions League run. But the journey to Europe has been fraught with challenges too.
Financial pressures
As Villa prepared for their return to the Champions League this season, they've looked graceful on the surface but have been paddling like mad under the water to keep afloat. Chris Heck, Villa's president of business operations, has seen the club's brand grow in recent years as they make strides to right the ship financially, expanding into new territories, signing a new multi-year sponsorship with Adidas, and investing into the training ground. "We're doing things on and off the pitch that no club in the world is doing," he tells ESPN.
Even so, Villa were on the brink of falling foul of the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in the summer, forcing them to offload star midfielder Douglas Luiz to Juventus for £42 million to avoid a points deduction before the June 30 deadline.
"We sorted it out at the last second," Villa's director of football operations Damian Vidagany said in early September. Heck tells ESPN: "We have a path to fight against some elements of PSR that don't necessarily benefit a challenger club like us. I think we've almost passed that challenger realm; we're now a disruptor."
The return to Champions League will be a boost to their finances, but the club hiked ticket prices for their group-stage matches at home -- now four games instead of three under UEFA's new format. The Aston Villa Supporters' Trust called the pricing "out of touch" and "extremely disappointing," with adult tickets ranging from £75-£97 -- the equivalent of an £85 ticket costs £55 for Premier League home matches (season-ticket holders' prices for the Champions League range between £70-£82.) With this year being Villa's 150th anniversary, there is added pressure to make this season's Champions League campaign a celebration of everything claret-and-blue.
"We've been working for six months on this, and we built a committee," Heck says. "This is with former players, former coaches, current fans and supporters. It's a robust group. We're the first big club to turn out 150 years, and so this is a global play. We're going to set the bar very high, and we think that we're going to leave a lot of memories. It's not going to be one day; it's not going to be one game. It's going to be an entire year."
Will Europe help or hinder their progress?
Vincent Kompany reacts to Bayern Munich's 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa in the Champions League.
Villa have made a good start to the Premier League -- fifth in the table, with four wins, a draw and a defeat -- but the wear and tear of a European campaign will disrupt momentum and Mortimer has concerns about the impact playing in four competitions will have on Emery's squad.
"He's got 38 [league] games where he's got to put his best team out. He's got eight games now in the Champions League," he says. "So that's a lot of games where pressure and everything else that goes with it is going to be coming down on the players. But at the same time, it's exciting for the team, it's exciting for the players, it's exciting for the fans. So it can only be a good thing, to be honest."
Thus far, it has been a very good thing. On Sept. 17, Villa thrashed Switzerland's Young Boys 3-0 away from home in their first game and on Wednesday, they beat one of Europe's biggest clubs. Bayern had the better chances and the bulk of possession, but Villa had goalkeeper Emi Martinez and the Argentina international produced two brilliant late saves to preserve the lead established by Durán's 79th-minute goal.
"It was amazing. I am so, so happy for the fans that they responded like they did," Emery said afterward. "We are trying to transmit that energy and connect with them. If we connect, we can get that energy on the field. Tonight was very important."
On the Holte End there's a banner reading: "Do you want to bet against us?" Those were Saunders' immortal words as his team entered the final stages of their two-horse race with Ipswich for the First Division title in 1981. Few would now bet against Villa making a dent in this competition after witnessing what they did on Wednesday, and there will be more memorable nights to come, with Villa hosting Juventus on Nov. 27. "That's the one I am looking forward to as they knocked us out the following year [in 1983]," Waldron says.
The efforts of the 1982 legends will never be forgotten; their success helped build the foundations the club now find themselves on. "From Aston Villa's point of view, 1982 is the biggest part of the history of the football club at this moment," says Mortimer.
A couple of hours after full-time against Bayern, there were still Villa fans in and around the stadium, soaking up the atmosphere. They clutched flags and keepsakes; they replayed the Durán goal on their phones as they waited for taxis after another special European night.
"This game was for all those fans who stuck by us in the tough times and witnessed heavy home defeats and a meagre three wins all season in our relegation year of 2016," Goodwin says. "To have played against Bayern in our first home match in the Champions League is an absolute dream come true. Under Emery, anything is possible."