Aston Villa are preparing to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League this evening in the club’s first home fixture in this competition since the early eighties.
Unai Emery’s transformation of the club has seen Villa rise from the lower regions of the Premier League to Europe’s biggest stage and the visit of Bayern Munich comes six years to the day of one of their lowest points.
Then languishing in the second tier, a fan raced onto the pitch before a 3-3 draw with Preston North End and threw a cabbage in the direction of former manager Steve Bruce. With unrest growing at a poor start in the Championship, Bruce was sacked after the draw at Preston as Villa slipped to 13th in the table 12 games into the campaign.
“To say it’s disappointing is an understatement for a club like this. It was before we had even started, too,” Bruce said on the incident at the time.
“I find the whole thing hugely disrespectful. Unfortunately, it sums up the society we are in at the moment. There’s no respect for anyone.”
Villa won promotion through the play-offs under Bruce’s successor, Dean Smith, before consolidating back in the Premier League. After the tenures of Smith and Steven Gerrard, Emery took charge in October 2022. His first full season saw the Spaniard lead Villa into the top four and to Champions League qualification.
It’s a first visit to Europe’s top competition since Villa were defending the 1982 European Cup and tonight’s clash is a fitting fixture as a rematch of the club’s greatest success.
From cabbage-gate to the Champions League in six short years.
