It’s the big one, the one everyone has been waiting for, Aston Villa’s first Champions League home match in four decades.
This has been a long time coming and the Aston Villa faithful will be hoping this becomes the norm in years to come.
It’s fitting that Aston Villa’s first Champions League home match in so long is against Bayern Munich and Unai Emery deserves huge credit for getting the club there.
When Emery first took over, the club was looking over its shoulder and worrying about a potential relegation battle.
Steven Gerrard had left Villa in a mess, but everyone is now grateful that it was Emery who walked through the doors.
Whilst those in the Midlands have had little taste of Europe’s elite competition in recent times, Emery last competed in it with Villarreal in 2022, beating Bayern on the way to guiding his team to the semi-final.
Villarreal won the opening leg 1-0, before picking up a 1-1 draw in the second to then reach the last four, but then lost out to Liverpool.
In 2017, whilst in charge of PSG, he beat Bayern 3-0 and is now looking for his third Champions League win against the German giants.
Only Jose Mourinho – for Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid – has beaten Bayern with three different Champions League teams.
If Emery guides Villa to victory, then he will match Mourinho’s record and join an elite list, as Aston Villa Statto posted on Twitter.
Unai Emery could beat Bayern Munich for a third time in the Champions League
‘With a win tomorrow night as Aston Villa manager, Unai Emery will become only the second manager in Champions League history to beat Bayern Munich in the competition with three different teams. The other is José Mourinho (Chelsea, Internazionale and Real Madrid).’
Aston Villa’s defensive woes
From an attacking sense, Villa fans are relaxed because there is so much quality on offer, both from the starting XI and from the bench.
Ollie Watkins can’t stop scoring now, whilst Jhon Duran will be on the bench as an insurance and you sense he will be needed.
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But the team can’t keep a clean sheet. Villa haven’t kept one in the Premier League this term, including being all over the shop against Ipswich at the weekend.
Ironically, Villa’s only clean sheet came in the Champions League against Young Boys – yes, the opposition isn’t anything to shout about, but it’s something.
