THERE was 1980s nostalgia in the air at Villa Park – so trust the bloke called Duran to bring the house down.
Aston Villa 1 Bayern Munich 0 is the most famous scoreline in the history of this great football club – ever since the night Peter Withe won them the European Cup in Rotterdam 42 years ago.
That was when Birmingham’s own Duran Duran were a permanent fixture at the top of the charts.
Jhon Duran, Aston Villa’s extraordinary supersub, always leaps off the bench, hungry like the wolf.
And he netted a spectacular late winner – his sixth goal of the season, and his fifth as a sub – to recreate the result of Villa’s finest ever victory.
With two wins and two clean sheets in this monumental Champions League group, Villa are proving themselves well worthy of a place back on European football’s grandest stage.
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As Villa Park rattled and hummed with noise – with the words from the TV commentary of Withe’s winner plastered across the Doug Ellis Stand – here was a night worth waiting more than four decades to enjoy.
Bayern may have dominated for long periods but Villa defended manfully, had a first-half Pau Torres effort ruled out and ought to have seen Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano sent off before the break.
Whatever your opinion of the new group-stage format – and if you think it’s any good, then you’re wrong – this was one fixture, one occasion, which dripped with meaning.
Villa’s first home fixture in Europe’s elite competition in 41 years, and against the club they defeated to capture the trophy.
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The air was acrid with pyrotechnics and a huge banner was unfurled in front of the Holte End but in truth they didn’t need any gimmicks – Villa Park provides one of the last great authentic atmospheres in English football.
The old place rattled and hummed but the Germans had a strut on, bossing possession, making obvious they were the club who belonged in this tournament, and who’d won their opening match 9-2.
You only had to look at Bayern’s bench to recognise their immense strength – Jamal Musiala, Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane, Leon Goretzka, Joao Palhinha – never mind the 11 blokes Vincent Kompany had actually selected to start.
And the visiting fans were certainly in high spirits, with one caught on camera appearing to prepare to snort a substance off his hand.
Harry Kane had been passed fit after an ankle injury and his early header forced Emi Martinez to save with his boot, yet the England skipper was offside.
Villa were relying on counter-attacks and Dayot Upamecano was having kittens trying to deal with the pace of Ollie Watkins.
First the Bayern defender bundled Watkins over only for Romanian ref Radu Petrescu to wave play on.
The next time Villa broke, Watkins turned Upamecano again, was dragged down and Petrescu showed the yellow card he ought to have brandished the first time around.
The popularity of the match officials went down another notch when Villa were denied an opener by VAR.
A Lucas Digne up and under caused chaos and Pau Torres stabbed in. The Holte End went berserk and even the Prince of Wales was caught on camera punching the air.
Yet even the heir to the throne has no authority over UEFA’s robot linesmen, who spotted that Jacob Ramsey was marginally offside in the build-up.
Ramsey had to limp off soon after, replaced by Leon Bailey, who had been surprisingly dropped in favour of youngster Jaden Philogene in a bold call from Emery.
When Watkins broke again, the flailing Upamecano cleared only as far as Amadou Onana, who shot straight at Manuel Neuer.
Bayern had been rocking but began to reassert their authority.
Serge Gnabry dashed down the right and drilled into the side-netting when he ought to have centred for Kane, who swore at him heartily in English, not German.
Soon, Michael Olise’s curler from outside the box was tipped over by Martinez.
And the half ended with more eccentric refereeing from Petrescu, who refused to book Kane for wrestling over Morgan Rogers to halt a breakaway in what was one of the most obvious yellow-card offences it is possible to imagine.
At half-time, Kompany sent on Musiala for Kingsley Coman and Bayern continued to hog the ball – Ezri Konsa survived a penalty shout for handball and Olise had a couple of shots blocked.
Emery responded to Bayern’s dominance with a double change – ruthlessly subbing sub Bailey in the process.
His replacement, Ian Maatsen, then rifled a shot over after some neat work from Youri Tielemans.
But Musiala was finding his dancing feet, bobbing and weaving his way through half the Villa team to win a corner.
Next, Emery withdrew Watkins and sent on Duran and nine minutes later his moment arrived.
Martinez rolled out the ball to Torres who sent a through-ball up the right allowing Duran to lash home a first-time shot past the stranded Neuer.
Bayern continued to press but somebody must have saved a prayer for Villa.
Speaking after the game, captain Martinez revealed boss Emery was the mastermind behind Duran’s delight chip over Neuer.
He said: “We knew Neuer plays high. We watched a lot of movies with the manager this morning. He had that in his mind.”
On Duran’s impact, Martinez added: “He came back with a different mentality this season. He’s willing to work hard, he’s pushing Ollie all the way, they can play together.
“He’s a super sub, the first time he touched the ball, he lobbed Neuer, one of the best goals in history.”
Martinez also opened up over denying Kane on several occasions as he hailed Villa’s defence.
The World Cup winner said: “You know with Harry Kane, you know that he’s always going to hit on target at some point in the game so I’ve working a lot with moving and making saves.
“We are committed [more] defensively Champions League, we need to transmit that into the Premier League now, we are conceding some sloppy goals in the Premier League, we need to find that balance, we know we can keep clean sheets so we move on from here.”
On the result and Villa fans’ celebrations, he added: “It’s a statement, there’s still a lot to play. We want to qualify in the first eight, in the top eight, it’s one step at a time.
“We’ve got Bologna at home now in our second game, we are probably more relaxed but we want to win every game.
“It’s unreal to be fair. This is the loudest Villa Park that I’ve heard since I joined the club, that’s for sure, it was hurting my ears at some point. It’s a club that is moving forward.
“It’s the main reason why I stay in this football club. I love playing here, I love the fans, this is a win for them.”
Manager Emery was also full of praise for Duran, saying: “We’re working with him, but most important is his attitude and commitment now with us. He changed a lot in his mind, he’s being focused each minute he’s playing.”
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He continued: “Try to enjoy the way. We want to keep it for long time, playing consistent in Europe.
“It’s very important defensively to be strong. Emi Martinez did amazing job, Carlos & Konsa were fantastic and others. Both players they needed to improve playing together.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
