IT was a night of nights in early October when Villa Park welcomed back elite European football after a hiatus of four decades.
To be there at one of English football’s grandest, most historic and atmospheric stadiums as Bayern Munich were vanquished in a Champions League group match was a rare privilege.
In the 79th minute Jhon Duran lobbed Manuel Neuer from 25 yards.
The concrete beneath my feet throbbed. My eardrums threatened to burst. And despite having no affinity with Aston Villa, I yelled out a joyous: “F*** me!”
In the mixed-zone interview area afterwards, the defeated captain of England, Harry Kane, praised Villa to the heavens, and the future king of England, Prince William, told us he’d cheered his team so loudly that he’d lost his voice.
I left the ground feeling delighted for Villa’s supporters. Which is strange because, usually, when English clubs play in Champions League football, I couldn’t honestly care less whether they win or lose.
I don’t think I’m alone in this. The Premier League’s traditional Big Six were difficult to love even before they tried to sell English football down the gurgler by signing up to a breakaway Super League.
And Newcastle, with their bottomless Saudi wealth, leave many of us equally cold. But Villa’s European adventure — next stop Paris Saint-Germain’s Parc des Princes in tomorrow’s quarter-final first leg — feels different.
It feels like a throwback to decades gone by, when English football fans would genuinely want other English clubs to thrive in Europe.
I’m old enough to remember the European Cup triumphs of Bob Paisley’s Liverpool, Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest and Tony Barton’s Villa (right) being savoured nationwide.
When Villa face Qatari-backed PSG in the French capital, most of England — except for the blue half of Birmingham and the Black Country supporters of Wolves and West Brom — will be firmly behind them.
And that’s because Villa’s successes under Unai Emery give the supporters of many other clubs something realistic to aspire to.
Just nine years ago, Villa were relegated from the Premier League, rock-bottom with just 17 points after a campaign which brought them more managers (four) than wins (three).
Soon, their short-lived Chinese owner, Dr Tony Xia, took the club to the brink of ruin and a cabbage was thrown at Villa boss Steve Bruce during a 3-3 home draw with Preston.
When Emery took over from Steven Gerrard just two-and-a-half years ago, Villa were in deep relegation danger but now Bruce’s old vegetable patch is a field of dreams once more.
Villa are not a member of the modern elite, with all the spoilt-rotten sense of entitlement that status brings.
They are an authentic club, competing at Europe’s top table with underdog status, with a modest net spend, with a likeable, talented manager and with supporters who have followed their club through thick and thin, providing consistently the best atmosphere in the Premier League.
The January window brought a stardust injection which had looked risky at the time.
The loan signings of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio might have destabilised a team high on collective work ethic but low on Hollywood names.
Yet Emery knew that the time was right.
Asensio, with eight goals from his last eight appearances, will face his parent club in Paris with a major point to prove, while Rashford has been revitalised and restored to the England team after just a couple of months under Emery’s astute leadership.
On Saturday, Emery made eight changes and Villa rode their luck to win a belting game against Forest — their fellow resurgent former European champions.
Forest, like Villa, should carry the hopes of neutral English fans into the Champions League next season.
And, if both sides win their respective FA Cup semi-finals, we should expect a vintage final.
Emery’s men have now won seven straight games in all competitions and the Villa boss heads to his former club PSG with genuine hope of achieving his bold, stated aim of conquering Europe.
Luis Enrique’s freshly recrowned champions of France defeated runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool in the previous round and are favourites with most bookies to lift a first European Cup in Munich next month.
But Emery — a four-time Europa League winner with Sevilla and Villarreal — is a master of the two-legged tie.
And so we should expect Villa to return from Paris with this quarter-final still alive, for another night of nights at Villa Park next Tuesday.
At last, an English club in Europe we can all get behind.
Ang-ry at VAR
NOBODY in football calls out the absurdity of VAR with consistent lucidity as Ange Postecoglou.
When Tottenham had a goal disallowed at Chelsea on Thursday, the Aussie spoke about the future implementation of ‘AI referees’.
And then he added: “My mistake was celebrating a goal, VAR defeated me again. I won’t be doing that again. If that’s what people want, let’s continue. I don’t like it.
“I am falling out of love with the game because I love celebrating goals.
“I’ll make sure I don’t do it again, but I reckon that’s kind of sad. Isn’t that sad?”
When Spurs suffered the same fate in Sunday’s win over Southampton, Ange resorted to ridicule, spending some of a ludicrous six-minute VAR delay by miming the tossing of a coin and a game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’.
Postecoglou claims he is a ‘lone voice’ in demanding the scrapping of VAR — but there are hundreds of thousands of match-going fans who make him absolutely right.
Ode to no joy
I RECENTLY delved into the murky world of Arsenal social media — forgive me, but my team was playing against them, I couldn’t get to the game and it wasn’t on the telly.
And the depth of the criticism, bordering on hatred, being aimed at Martin Odegaard was truly astonishing.
Sure, the skipper has dipped significantly after an early-season injury.
But here was one of the finest players in the Premier League over the previous two campaigns — his understanding with Bukayo Saka not far off telepathy — being taken apart.
Odegaard faces his former club Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter-final and it would gladden the heart if the Norwegian could illuminate the Emirates and shut up those trolls.
Direct action
WHEN Ipswich keeper Alex Palmer avoided a catastrophic error by handling a back-pass, all 11 Tractor Boys stood on the line to defend a Wolves indirect free-kick.
After an initial touch, the Ipswich players stormed out and comfortably blocked Emmanuel Agbadou’s effort, as they were always likely to do.
So why can’t football’s lawmakers make this a direct free-kick offence instead?
End of an era
KEVIN DE BRUYNE was clearly the best player in the most dominant team English domestic football has ever known.
And so Pep Guardiola’s ruthless decision to end the Belgian’s Manchester City career at 33 was both impressive on a professional level — and jarring in human terms.
Derby debate
ANY suggestions that Crystal Palace versus Brighton is ‘not a proper derby’ should have been crushed by the three red cards and explosion of joy at the final whistle as the nine-man Eagles secured a first Premier League double over their fierce rivals.
If both clubs care that much, then it’s a proper derby.
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