The Villans make a joyful return to the Champions League ready to upset the established order again forty-two years after being crowned shock European champions.
Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup final triumph against Bayern Munich still holds its coveted place in the history of the competition as one of the most remarkable conquests ever.
Only five years ago, with their team languishing dismally in English football’s second tier, it would have been impossible for Villa fans to dream of repeating that kind of iconic victory.
However hope and salvation came with Unai Emery’s arrival in 2022, and a revitalised Villa unexpectedly finished fourth in the Premier League last season to secure their first Champions League appearance since the 1982-83 campaign.
Emery’s recharged side will be making their long-awaited return to Europe’s elite club competition against Young Boys in Switzerland on Tuesday, before a mouth-watering reunion with Bayern at Villa Park on October 2.
Apart from the Bayern clash, it is only fitting that Juventus will visit on November 27 after the Italian side showed Villa the exit at their last European Cup campaign in the 1983 quarter-finals.
Decades of pent-up frustration were released with the spontaneous explosion of joy which greeted confirmation of Villa’s Champions League qualification after their steep decline since that epic shock victory against Bayern in Rotterdam.
It was on Villa’s annual awards night in May when their top four rivals Tottenham lost to Manchester City, instantly triggering wild celebrations as Emery and his players riotously sprayed champagne over each other.
“Nobody expected us to be there but we believed in ourselves and believed in our dream,” Villa defender Lucas Digne said.
“After more than four decades we are back in the Champions League!”, team-mate Diego Carlos gladly chipped in.
Prince William, a noted Villa fan, gave the royal seal of approval, saying: “We are Champions League! A historic season and an amazing achievement.”
Now Emery and his squad will be doing all they can to ensure Villa do not repeat the kind of ordeal that haunted Newcastle last term, when their first Champions League campaign for 20 years ended in a group stage exit that derailed the rest of the season.
Hopefully Emery’s track-record suggests he and his boys will not be unduly phased by having to juggle the exhausting demands of both Premier League and Champions League action.
The former Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla boss will be managing his sixth club in the Champions League, having creditably transformed Villa from relegation candidates into a Premier League force.
Yet even a manager of Emery’s timbre might perhaps having some difficulty trying to emulate Villa’s astonishing march to European glory in 1982 when –just a year after being crowned surprise English champions – they made a stunning debut in the European Cup, sweeping to the final with wins over Valur, BFC Dynamo, Dynamo Kiev and Anderlecht.
It was an unlikely success because in February of that season, their title-winning manager Ron Saunders had tendered in his resignation over a contract dispute, and Saunders’ assistant, Tony Barton, took over and somehow managed to calmly guide Peter Withe, Tony Morley, Dennis Mortimer and company to the final.
The clear underdogs against a star-studded Bayern side boasting the likes of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner on a balmy spring evening at De Kuip, Villa looked doomed when goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer came off with a neck injury, forcing untested Nigel Spink into action.
Yet Spink, with the dubious credit of having made only one appearance for the club, produced a series of superb saves before Withe poked in Morley’s cross in the 67th minute to send Villa into dreamland.
Villa captain Mortimer – with a wide disbelieving grin brandished across his face – lifted the trophy as Barton hailed “the most important day in the history of the club”.
But, while Villa went on to beat Barcelona in the Super Cup the following season, their bubble quickly burst, as just five years after conquering Europe, Villa’s dismantled squad were relegated from the top-flight in 1987 after Barton left in 1984.
After a long, arduous road battling their way back to redemption, in their 150th anniversary season, Villa are finally back among the elite.
Bayern, Juventus and the rest of Europe’s super-powers would be wise not to underestimate them.