BIRMINGHAM: 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. Britain´s future King was among those to congratulate Emery in a meeting after the match. “I told him the best moment we can pass is days like today,” said Emery.
“I don´t know where (Villa can go) but we are going to try to enjoy the way. Today we (will) remember how we played, who we played and the Champions League final from 42 years ago. It was a special day.”
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 to start. 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.
“They´re a strong team, and this place is not an easy place,” said Kompany. “I don´t think the performance was perfect, but it wasn´t a bad performance.” 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.