Aston Villa 1 - 0 Bayern München

When Prince William was asked why he was an Aston Villa fan his answer went along the lines of not following the herd - his schoolmates were all Manchester United or Chelsea fans - and wanting a team that wouldn't always be fighting at the top of the table and expected to win all the time.

He's 42 and reckons he was about ten years old when the decision was made. That would be about the time the English Premier League split away from the English Football Association. In the intervening period he's seen Villa finish second in the EPL (92/93), win the League Cup ('96), be beaten in four cup finals - two FA ('00 & '15) and two League ('10 & '20). He's also seen them relegated, and then promoted.

He did not choose an easy team to follow.

My journey in following Villa is similar, but started ten years earlier. Without a strong local or parental tie to any English club I was, as a ten year old in Telford, Shropshire, casting round for a team to follow. Liverpool were the dominant team and with Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness leading the team my Scottish roots were drawn that way; then there were Tottenham Hotspur who played lovely football and had Glen Hoddle scoring from corner kicks and playing with his arm in a plaster cast; Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest were strong contenders; finally, there was my grandad who followed the Villa and convinced me to do the same. He had a strong argument. They'd just one the league and then followed it up by winning the European Cup and then the Super Cup. And he was my grandad.

Liverpool,Spurs, and Forest were layed aside (though Liverpool are definitely still my 2nd team). And thus a lifetime of misery began. Sure, there have been high-spots - but I've seen them relegated twice and, two years ago with them struggling in seventeenth, it looked very much like a third time was on the cards.

Then Unai Emery joined the club. What a two years it has been. From 17th to 7th, and qualifying for Europe, in that first part of a season, to being a European Semi-finalists and qualifying for the Champions League in the second season has been a turn around of unparalleled porportions.

The first Champions League game, away in Switzerland to their League Champions, BSC Young Boys, was a comfortable win. Gratifying, but from last year we knew we could handle decent teams from smaller leagues. The next game would be tougher.

Since Villa last won the league, and their only European Cup, Bayern München have won the Bundesliga 25 times, and the Champions League 3.
This is a challenge of a different level. The last time they played they were probably more evenly matched but it was Villa who prevailed, scoring a single goal to beat them in the European Cup Final.

This time Villa were playing the part of upstart underdogs with barely a right to be in the competition, while Bayern were the battle hardened camapigners. Villa Park put on a pre-match spectacle for the fans who gathered in the stadium and, when the Champions League Anthem reverberated through the stands, the air of excitement and anticipation was palpable.

Bayern started fast and pressed Villa hard, and they kept that up through-out the game. Seeing the way they pressed and always seemed to have a player available to recover a ball was a pleasure to watch, even if it induced trepidation. It felt that a Bayern goal was only a matter of time, an inevitability.

Yet, on 22 minutes, it was Villa's Pau Torres who slid the ball into Bayern's net. With a high ball placed into the box there was some confusion and ping-pong but the final strike was well taken and placed beyond Neuer. An offside in the build up meant VAR ruled the goal out. Still, for that moment, the dream was very much alive. Not only that, but Bayern seemed rattled.Twice Ollie Watkins was pulled to the ground by Upamecano when a through ball would have seen him running at the goalkeeper. Only the second led to a card and, of the two, this was the least egregious.

The through ball to Watkins was Villa's main threat but they were so pinned back that on several occasions Neuer was able to perform his favored role of sweeper-keeper and clear the danger from well outside of his box, returning the threat and pressure to Villa's half.

Still, though, Bayern could find no way through the Villa defence. And while they did have chances and shots, Villa goal keeper Emi Martinez was not being tested in any significant way, if you argue his tipping over Olise's earlt excellent shot is expected at this level. Super scorer Harry Kane was hardly noticeable on the pitch.

On seventy minutes Watkins, who had worked tirelessly, was withdrawn and Jhon Duran introduced to play.

Nine minutes later he secured his position as a Villa hero with the only goal of the game.

The play started with Maatsen giving away a free kick, which German international Kimmich took. A comfortable save by Martinez gave him the ball in hand and he threw it out to Pau Torres who was about 5 yards beyond the front edge of the right side of the penalty area. Torres controlled the ball and moved maybe ten or fifteen yards before launching the ball forward with perfect weight for Duran to chase. Upamecano was tight on Duran's shoulder and, had he not been on a yellow card, may have considered a challenge of the kind he'd used twice on Watkins. He didn't.

There's a delightful moment where you see Duran calculating the distance to goal, the position of the ball, and then he slows down. Upamecano goes a step past him, Duran shapes himself and swings at the ball. It flies over the desparing Neuer, bounces in the box, and thumps into the back of the net. It was a moment of footballing brilliance from the twenty year old.

And it wouldn't have happened if Neuer stayed in his box.

For all this is a goal of youthful footbaling genius, it is also a goal caused by aging footbaling hubris.

When Duran took his shot, his only touch of the ball after Torres played it forward, Neuer was outside the front edge of his penalty area, seeking to enact the sweeper-keeper role he'd played effectively through the game. But there was no need. Upamecano was keeping pace with Duran, there were three Bayern players in the line to cover the two attacking Villa players. Villa may well have managed a shot but the statistics weigh on the side of the attack being smothered, or the shot being saved, if the goal-keeper is on his line or in his box.

Bayern pressed hard for the remaining time and two goal-bound shots were blocked with wonderful reflex saves by Emi Martinez. The full time whistle brought a roar to Villa Park which will last long in the ears and chests of all who heard it. For the first time I am pleased with the change to the format of the competition, which means we do not have to face a return leg at the Allianz Arena.

It's nearly 42 years since VIlla beat Bayern 1-0 in Rotterdam. As Jean-Baptiste Karr said, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.