In the 1982 European Cup final Aston Villa proudly triumphed over Bayern Munich. Sadly, they were not ready for the next 40-odd years.
The Villans have rarely dined at Europe’s top table since that famous night but they are back and poetically, they’re beating Bayern again.
Wednesday night’s win encapsulated what’s so special about football, what’s so special about the Champions League. We’ve hopefully waved farewell to any Super League nonsense – a competition that would have deprived a club like Villa of this famous evening.
Unai Emery’s men were brilliant. Pau Torres was a pillar at the back, Emi Martinez proved why he’s one of the game’s best and Jhon Duran, oh Jhon Duran, you’re a little bit special, aren’t you?
You’re just going to lob one of football’s best-ever goalkeepers? Of course, you are. It was stunning, it was effortless, it was oh-so excellent.
So, Villa have two wins from two in the Champions League, this is all a bit easy, isn’t it? It raised a colossal smile and roar from Prince William and no doubt from another famous fan Tom Hanks. Somewhere, former club captain Jack Grealish will have been delighted too. Imagine if they had him in their ranks last night.
Well, as it happens, they may well have just discovered their next Grealish.
Aston Villa's new Jack Grealish
A boyhood Villlan, the England international decided to leave for pastures new in a record-breaking deal back in 2021.
He was leaving behind the club of his dreams – of course it was going to be emotional – but few could blame him for exiting when Manchester City came calling. Few could blame Christian Purslow and Co for not accepting a mega £100m fee either.
At the time, he became the most expensive player in British football, a record that has since been broken by Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo.
Have City got bang for their buck? Arguably not. Having scored 32 goals and registered 41 assists in 213 outings for Villa, he has since found the back of the net just 14 times in 133 games for City. That’s around £7m for every single goal he’s scored.
Season
Games
Goals
Assists
2020/21
27
7
10
2019/20
41
10
8
2018/19
35
6
8
2017/18
34
3
8
2016/17
34
5
5
2015/16
21
1
1
2014/15
24
0
3
That said, he’s still a marvellous player and entertained many at Villa throughout the early stages of his career.
To receive such a massive fee for an academy player was no doubt a proud moment, and they may well get a similar fee for a certain Duran, who is just going from strength to strength under Emery’s tutelage.
Jhon Duran's impact this season
The man is a monster, there’s not much else to say really. Shall we wrap this article up now?
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We jest, of course, but the Colombian forward is beginning to show this season the very reason clubs like Chelsea were interested in signing him over the summer.
We have seen flashes of his brilliance over the last year or so but eyebrows were raised when a player with just five Premier League goals to his name was linked with Stamford Bridge.
Well, in the early stages of the new campaign he’s already nearly matched that tally, scoring four top-flight goals in just six games and 157 minutes of action.
He is the ultimate super sub and just can’t stop scoring, having found the net twice more – once in the Carabao Cup – and now against Bayern in the Champions League.
It’s the quality he’s showing, however, that makes him such a hot commodity. The goals he’s scoring aren’t simple. The stonking finish from range against Everton nearly took the net off and his strike against Bayern oozed quality.
Running onto the ball from Pau Torres he took one look – he didn’t even need a touch to set himself – before sending the ball over Neuer. Bedlam. Utter bedlam. Villa Park has arguably never been noisier.
It perhaps feels unnecessary after such a big game to discuss where he could end up next but the future is undoubtedly bright for Duran. As analyst Ben Mattinson remarked at full-time, this is a potential £85m player in waiting.
It’s not quite the levels of Grealish but like the Birmingham-born playmaker, he is going to generate quite a sizeable fee for Villa, that there is no doubt.
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Aston Villa managed to pull off a fantastic Champions League win by toppling Bayern Munich 1-0.
ByKelan SarsonOct 3, 2024