Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich (Duran 79′)
VILLA PARK — Jhon Duran. Aston Villa’s man of the moment delivered in some style on the biggest night at Villa Park for decades with a winner against Bayern Munich that will be played for decades more.
With Manuel Neuer straying from his line, super-sub Duran lobbed the Bayern goalkeeper to ensure Villa came away from their toughest Champions League match of this league phase with all three points.
And remarkably, poetically, it was another 1-0 win over the mighty Bayern – a grand occasion for a whole new generation of Villa fans to revel in, and one that will have them believing the last 16 is the bare minimum goal.
History, after all, was on the mind. The past and present danced together in the build-up to this match, with Villa’s heroes from the 1982 European Cup final win over Bayern enjoying a special dinner at Villa Park on Tuesday.
But matchday belonged to the current crop, who were told by head coach Unai Emery to “build a new history”, and that was noticeable as a tifo depicting this season’s squad dominated the Holte End as the players came out.
Fireworks and pyrotechnics also came before the pinch-yourself minute many fans who had spoken to i in the build-up to this match said they were most looking forward to.
The Champions League anthem, and that instantly recognisable chorus sung in German, French and English, playing out at Villa Park as the home side lined up against a true giant of this competition, and one they had tamed 42 years ago.
A hush descended around the ground until the final drawn-out line was sung by Villa fans too, a surreal moment made more bizarre given it was also exactly six years to the day since Steve Bruce’s last game in charge of Villa – a 3-3 home draw to Preston in the Championship that involved a cabbage and a late missed penalty.
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One of the many dominoes that led up to this night, the occasion therefore meant much more to the giddy hosts than it did the European royalty they were entertaining, as in reality this was just another day at the office for Bayern, the six-time winners of a competition they have only missed one season of (2007-08) since 1997-98.
And while Bayern had shown chinks in the armour when relinquishing their grip on the Bundesliga last season, an unbeaten start under Vincent Kompany – and 21 goals in their past four games alone – spoke of a rejuvenated side out to make amends.
Emery meanwhile was tasked with keeping his Villa side focused amid a wistful atmosphere, and stressed in his programme notes: “We are not here to just be part of a celebration. We want more. We are here not to dream but to be at the required level, to play seriously, to show competitiveness and to be loyal to our style.”
This call for competitiveness felt telling a night after Celtic had been embarrassed 7-1 at Borussia Dortmund, and beyond their own exploits four decades ago, Villa could also draw on inspiration from Newcastle’s win over PSG last October.
It was possible, but the difficulty dawned on Villa as Bayern controlled play early on, with a warning sign inside six minutes when a Harry Kane header was saved by Emiliano Martinez and then flagged for offside.
Bayern had played five times as many passes as Villa after 15 minutes, leaving the hosts to feed on scraps that largely relied on misplaced passes and Ollie Watkins finding pockets of space.
In those moments though Watkins was proving a menace, and after drawing a foul from Dayot Upamecano, who also earned a booking, Villa thought they had the breakthrough when Pau Torres poked the ball home – only for VAR to rule it out as smoke still billowed out from one flare by the corner flag.
It dampened spirits but belief grew, with Amadou Onana’s deflected effort going down as Villa’s first official attempt on target, one that Neuer easily saved.
Jacob Ramsey, Birmingham-born, Villa through and through, then suffered the ill-fated scenario of limping off with an injury, and that led to a lull in the match only ended when Leroy Sane’s dipping effort from distance drew a fine save from Martinez to keep it goalless.
After the break, the prospect of a sharing a point with Bayern was growing on Villa minds, but Duran had other ideas, capitalising on Neuer being out of position with a lobbed effort from 25 yards out. It sparked wild scenes inside this ground, Prince William among the Villa fans lost in the moment, which would go on to prove the winner after Martinez made two big saves late on.
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