Aston Villa repeated their famous 1982 European Cup final win over Bayern Munich as Jhon Duran’s winner beat the German giants 1-0 on Wednesday.
The Colombian striker caught Manuel Neuer off his line 11 minutes from time to make it two wins from two games for Villa in their first experience of Champions League football for 41 years. Bayern arrived at Villa Park unbeaten and in free-scoring form since Vincent Kompany took charge. But the visitors were stifled by Unai Emery’s gameplan and caught out when Duran latched onto Pau Torres’ long pass and fired over Neuer from long range.
Prince William was among the over 40,000 Villa fans who inspired Emery’s men to shrug off the vast gulf in Champions League pedigree between the sides. Just five years ago Villa were languishing in the second tier of English football, but they have enjoyed a meteoric rise since the Spaniard took charge under two years ago. After a comfortable 3-0 win over Young Boys in Switzerland two weeks ago, the visit of the six-time European champions was the sort of glamour tie Villa fans had been relishing and it did not disappoint.
Harry Kane overcame an ankle injury that forced him off late on in Bayern’s 1-1 draw against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend. Bayern had averaged over four goals a game in their opening seven matches under Kompany, including a 9-2 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb to open their Champions League campaign. They dominated the ball early on, but Kane’s header from an offside position that was well saved by Emi Martinez was the closest they came to breaking through Emery’s well-organised defence.
Villa did have the ball in the net midway through the first half when Torres prodded in at the back post from a free-kick. However, Jacob Ramsey had strayed offside in the build up and Villa’s jubilant celebrations were cut short. Michael Olise was another of Bayern’s stars making a return to England and the former Crystal Palace winger was only denied the opener before half-time by a stunning save from Martinez.
Kompany had surprisingly left Jamal Musiala on the bench but the German international was summoned to make an impact at half-time. Musiala nearly weaved a way through the Villa defence on the hour mark but his shot was blocked by Torres. Instead, it was Villa’s own super sub that came on to win the game.
Five of Duran’s six goals this season have come as a substitute. The 20-year-old showed his strength to hold off Dayot Upamecano and lift the ball over the stranded Neuer. Villa still needed their own goalkeeper to make important interventions at the other end to seal a historic victory. Musiala’s pass finally unlocked the home side’s defence but Serge Gnabry could not beat Martinez. The Argentine then produced an even better save deep into stoppage time to turn Upamecano’s header to safety.
