Unai Emery wants to turn nights like this for Aston Villa into the norm and if anyone can it’s him. But this was anything but normal. Jhon Duran, you beauty.
Bayern Munich offered a compelling answer in the first 15 minutes to the question posed by the Aston Villa fans at kick-off. Who the f***ing hell are we? The team your lot can’t get the ball off.
All 20 outfield players were in Villa’s half, with Joshua Kimmich dictating play from midfield as those ahead of him interchanged positions in a fluid Vincent Kompany system that prioritises third-man runs and counter-pressing.
Kompany’s side are now a team playing in a manner in keeping with the quality they have in their ranks, as displayed by them scoring nine goals on matchday one in the Champions League and 30 goals across their seven games so far this season. Make no mistake – despite this result – after a fallow season, Bayern Munich are a force to be reckoned with again; a significantly better side than the one that knocked a limp Arsenal out of the competition six months ago.
Michael Olise forced a stunning save from Emiliano Martinez with a dipping shot seemingly destined for the top corner, Serge Gnabry blazed a shot wide having been sent through after a particularly good move from front to back when he should have squared it for Harry Kane, and it felt as though Bayern would eventually break the Villa rearguard, stubborn though it was.
But Villa didn’t need much of the ball to show they very much belong back in Europe’s showcase competition, playing in a repeat of the final they won 42 years ago.
And with 1982 hero Peter Withe watching from the stands it was Aston Villa’s current striker putting the willies up Bayern on Wednesday. Ollie Watkins won all five of his duels in the first half, most of them against Dayot Upamecano, who was frequently left one on one with a guy you really don’t want to be left one on one with.
The centre-back could quite easily have been shown a straight red for bringing Watkins down as the last man in the 15th minute – a challenge the referee inexplicably waved away – and certainly should have played no further part after a very similar challenge saw him cautioned seven minutes later.
“They just ned to get that pass right once” was the call on commentary. Unai Emery will argue they did – twice – and should have reaped the deserved reward of playing the majority of the game with an extra man. Turns out they didn’t need the advantage. Not when you’ve got Super Jhon Duran.
That’s now six goals in under 300 minutes of football this season for Duran, five of them clinching victory for his side; this was another beauty.
Pau Torres – who had a fine goal ruled out for offside midway through the first half and was utterly brilliant throughout, both in and out of possession – played a pinpoint 50-yard pass to split the Bayern defence and after a quick glance over his shoulder to spot that Manuel Neuer was doing his I’m A Frustrated Midfielder bit, Duran lifted the ball over the goalkeeper in a moment that combined sheer joy and a sense of inevitability, because this is just what this extraordinary young footballer does.
It got us thinking: do Villa have the second and third best strikers in the Premier League? A debate for another time perhaps, and there will no doubt be further questions as to how Emery can get both of them into his team.
Not that us mere mortals should be questioning what the Spaniard is doing. Having masterminded a two-legged victory over Bayern with Villarreal just over two years ago, he’s beaten them again with another underdog that had its back to the wall for the majority of the game but delivered the killer moment.
Villarreal were knocked out by Liverpool in the semi-final that season, and while we’re not giddy enough just yet to suggest Villa can match that feat in their first taste of top level European football for over four decades, under Emery, after this result, with Big Jhon Duran a guaranteed goal from the bench in every game they play, Villa will fancy getting a result against any team they come up against.
“My idea is to try to get something natural,” Unai Emery said in his pre-match press conference, in reference to a feeling shared by all Villa fans, that it’s “very bad” that the club hasn’t played in the Champions League/European Cup since 1983, with a view to turning what was a night full of emotion for everyone associated with Villa into the norm.
This was anything but normal. It was special; a landmark moment in an incredible rise of a football a club that may some time reasonably soon see a 1-0 over the six-time champions of Europe as a run-of-the-mill occurrence. Not just yet though. For now, euphoria isn’t just allowed but expected.
