Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has said his club’s first home game in the top tier of European football for 41 years will be a “special” occasion as Bayern Munich visit Villa Park on Wednesday.
Villa were one of the Premier League’s surprise packages under Emery in the 2023-24 season, finishing fourth to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since their quarterfinal defeat to Juventus in the 1984 competition, then known as the European Cup.
“We are very happy to face Bayern here at home and hopefully we can enjoy tomorrow and we can compete and show our best,” Emery said at his news conference on Tuesday.
“It is a special, special match for everyone.”
Villa played Bayern in the 1982 European Cup final, emerging as 1-0 victors to claim club football’s top prize on the continent for the first and only time in their history.
“When it’s a new competition we are motivated and so excited to play tomorrow with our supporters in Villa Park. Remembering as well the final that Villa played against them 42 years ago,” Emery said.
“Now at this moment in our process we have to try to play one match more. Of course it’s against one of the best teams in the world and the favourite with three or four others to win this competition.”
Emery has garnered considerable experience in European football during stints with Sevilla, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Villarreal — 188 games across the various tiers of UEFA competition.
In stark contrast, Vincent Kompany on the Bayern bench will be taking charge of his second continental fixture having moved from Burnley to Munich in a shock move over the summer.
“His career is very recognised as a player,” Emery said of his opposite number. “He started two or three years ago and he worked at Man City with Pep [Guardiola] and he has been successful so quickly.
“With his experiences and working with Guardiola, everything I watch as him as a coach says he will have a very good future.”
Villa beat Young Boys comfortably in their first Champions League game of the season, while Bayern demolished Dinamo Zagreb 9-2.