Aston Villa repeated their famous 1982 European Cup final win over Bayern Munich as Jhon Duran’s winner beat the German giants 1-0 on Wednesday.
The Colombian striker caught Manuel Neuer off his line 11 minutes from time to make it two wins from two games for Villa in their first experience of UEFA Champions League soccer for 41 years.
Bayern arrived at Villa Park unbeaten and in free-scoring form since Vincent Kompany took charge.
Photo: AP
However, the visitors were stifled by Unai Emery’s game plan and caught out when Duran latched onto Pau Torres’ long pass and fired over Neuer from long range.
Britain’s Prince William was among the more than 40,000 Villa fans who inspired Emery’s men to shrug off the vast gulf in Champions League pedigree between the sides.
Just five years ago, Villa were languishing in the second tier of English soccer, but they have enjoyed a meteoric rise since the Spaniard took charge less than two years ago.
After a comfortable 3-0 win over Young Boys in Switzerland two weeks ago, the visit of the six-time European champions was the sort of glamor tie Villa fans had been relishing and it did not disappoint.
Harry Kane overcame an ankle injury that forced him off late on in Bayern’s 1-1 draw against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend.
Bayern had averaged more than four goals per game in their opening seven matches under Kompany, including a 9-2 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb to open their Champions League campaign.
They dominated the ball early on, but Kane’s header from an offside position that was well saved by Emi Martinez was the closest they came to breaking through Emery’s well-organized defense.
Villa did have the ball in the net midway through the first half when Torres prodded in at the back post from a free-kick.
However, Jacob Ramsey had strayed offside in the build up and Villa’s jubilant celebrations were cut short.
Michael Olise was another of Bayern’s stars making a return to England and the former Crystal Palace winger was only denied the opener before half-time by a stunning save from Martinez.
Kompany had surprisingly left Jamal Musiala on the bench, but the German international was summoned to make an impact at half-time.
Musiala nearly weaved a way through the Villa defense on the hour mark but his shot was blocked by Torres.
Instead, it was Villa’s own super sub that came on to win the game.
Five of Duran’s six goals this season have come as a substitute.
The 20-year-old showed his strength to hold off Dayot Upamecano and lift the ball over the stranded Neuer.
Villa still needed their own goalkeeper to make important interventions at the other end to seal a historic victory.
REAL MADRID
Kylian Mbappe came off the bench, but could not prevent defending champion Real Madrid from losing 1-0 at unheralded Lille on Wednesday.
With Mbappe a substitute after a minor hamstring injury, the opening goal came from Canada striker Jonathan David ‘s penalty deep into first-half stoppage time. A video review ruled that midfielder Eduardo Camavinga handled the ball.
David scored a hat trick last weekend and shot confidently past goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who was replacing the injured Thibaut Courtois.
It was Madrid’s first loss in the competition since a 4-0 hammering by Manchester City in the semi-final return leg last year.
LIVERPOOL
Liverpool coach Arne Slot got his first taste of a UEFA Champions League night at Anfield and saw his team beat Bologna 2-0, thanks to goals from midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and prolific forward Mohamed Salah.
Juventus had goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio sent off in the 59th minute yet still beat Leipzig 3-2 at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.
Slovenia forward Benjamin Sesko scored both goals for Leipzig, but Serbia’s Dusan Vlahovic did the same for 10-man Juve before Francisco Conceicao netted in the 82nd.
Earlier, Atalanta and Feyenoord got their first wins in the competition’s second round of matches.
Italian side Atalanta coasted to a 3-0 win over Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk, Dutch club Feyenoord secured a gritty 3-2 win at tournament newcomer Girona.
Albanian Berat Djimsiti, Nigerian Ademola Lookman and Italian Raoul Bellanova scored for Atalanta in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. It was officially a home game for Shakhtar, which is playing at German club Schalke’s stadium because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Girona led through center-back David Lopez’s close-range finish, but the visitors equalized with an own goal from Yangel Herrera and took the lead on Antoni Milambo’s 31st-minute strike.
Donny van de Beek made it 2-2, but another own goal, this time from Ladislav Krejci, gave Feynoord — Slot’s former club — victory in a match where both teams missed a penalty.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS