Aston Villa Shock Bayern in 1982 European Cup Final Rematch

Aston Villa made it a repeat of their famous 1982 European Cup final win over Bayern Munich as winner Jhon Duran defeated the German giants 1-0 on Wednesday.

He caught Manuel Neuer off his line 11 minutes from time to make it two wins from two games for Villa in their first taste of Champions League football for 41 years. Bayern came into this friendly at Villa Park unbeaten and free-scoring since Vincent Kompany had been at the helm.

But the visitors had been throttled by Unai Emery’s gameplan and were caught out when Duran latched onto Pau Torres’ long pass and fired over Neuer from long range. Prince William was joined by more than 40,000 Villa fans in urging Emery’s men onto overcome the big 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,” Emery said.

“I don’t know where, Villa can go, 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 started despite struggling with an ankle injury that forced him off late on in Bayern’s 1-1 draw against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend.

Bayern had averaged more than four goals a game through their first seven outings under Kompany, including that 9-2 rout of Dinamo Zagreb to get their Champions League campaign off and running.

They dominated possession early on, but the closest they came to breaking through Emery’s well-organised defence was a Kane header from an offside position well saved by Emi Martinez.

“They’re a strong team and this place is not an easy place,” said Vincent 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 – but that was ruled out for offside. However, Jacob Ramsey was offside in the build-up, and Villa’s celebrations were short-lived.

Michael Olise was another of Bayern’s stars making a return to England and the former Crystal Palace winger was only denied the opener before half-time by a stunning save from Martinez.

Surprisingly, Kompany had left Jamal Musiala on the bench, but indeed called on the German international at half time to make an impression. On the hour mark, Musiala thread an attempt through the middle but his shot was blocked by Torres.

Instead, it was Villa’s own super sub that came on to win the game. Five of Duran’s six goals this campaign have been scored when coming off the bench. The 20-year-old managed to claw his way to hold off Dayot Upamecano and lift the ball over the stranded Neuer.

Villa still needed their own keeper to make crucial interceptions at the other end to secure a historic win. The pass finally unlocked the home side’s defence, courtesy of Musiala, but Gnabry could not beat Martinez. The Argentine then produced an even better save deep into stoppage time to turn Kane’s header to safety.