Heroes and Villans on underdogs’ night

Kolkata: Beatlemania began with the Fab Four being selected for the Royal Variety Performance in November 1963. That is how Brian Epstein, who managed the quartet to super stardom, saw it in ‘A Cellarful of Noise’, his autobiography. By most accounts Britain’s Royals had found them endearing.
Aston Villa stunning 1-0 win against Bayern Munich at home in the Champions League on Wednesday also happened in the presence of royalty, the Prince of Wales. “I lost my voice. I can’t quite believe it – 42 years,” Prince William, a Villan for life, was quoted as saying in the mixed zone.
William was referring to when Villa beat Bayern in the European Cup final, Peter Withe doing to the German giants in Rotterdam what Jhon Duran’s 79th minute goal did to the six-time champions. Reason enough for a Royal hug and fist pump. “All heroes are Villans,” said a tifo summing up the night.
It was a night when Lille pulled off a heist at Real Madrid thanks to another man with initials JD, Jonathan David, who is on a scoring spree. This was the 15-time winners’ first Champions League defeat since losing 0-4 in a 2023 semi-final against Manchester City and Real’s first loss in 37 matches in all competitions. A night where Benfica emulated what they had done 59 years ago: beat a Spanish team (Real Madrid) in this competition by four goals.
But the biggest story was Villa. They were back at this level after 41 years and with two wins from two have shown that they belong. It didn’t look that way at the start though Pau Torres had a goal scratched because VAR found Jacob Ramsey off-side. “We will not let anything get to us, no matter who the opponent is,” Thomas Mueller had said in an interview to Bundesliga.
Bayern, with 29 goals in six matches this season and undefeated in the Champions League group stage since 2017, walked Mueller’s talk all night. This is a team with serious depth in attack. Bayern started with Serge Gnabry, Michael Olise and Kingsley Coman behind Harry Kane and brought on Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sane. “For four positions we have eight, nine, ten candidates,” Mueller has said.
Villa dealt with it by not losing shape under enormous pressure, looking to counter-attack – like the kind that fetched the goal – and relying on Emiliano Martinez’s goalkeeping skills.
In 2018, Villa were not even in the Premier League. They returned in 2019 but for some time in 2021-22 it looked like they would go down again. From there to beating a team that demolished Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 it has been a journey where discipline, diligence, the tactical nous and eye for detail of manager Unai Emery and the brain of Monchi, president of football operations, have been standout features.
To stay on the right side of Profit and Sustainability Rules Villa, who had done good business with Jack Grealish in 2021, sold Douglas Luiz for £42m in summer. Like Grealish, Ramsey and Jaden Philogene have come up from the academy. Both started on Wednesday and there were three more from the academy on the bench.
As was Duran. He has been Ollie Watkins’ replacement in most matches and it wasn’t any different for the 20-year-old Colombian in Villa’s biggest home game since 1983. Watkins had got into positions that left Bayern centre-back Dayot Upamecano isolated and on a booking when Duran was introduced in the 70th minute. When Torres relayed Martinez’s pass to Duran, he got between Upamecano and the ball and had the chutzpah to aim for goal from 30 yards without taking an extra touch.
“With his first touch, he lobbed Neuer, one of the best keepers in history. We know Neuer plays high and we watched a lot of movies with the manager — an hour and a half this morning,” The Athletic quoted Martinez as saying on the television channel TNT.
Five of Duran’s six goals this season have been as a substitute. He has nine Premier League goals, eight as a substitute. The powerful and fast forward moved to Villa in January 2023 and there were times when he upset fans and the management with posts on social media but it is difficult to disagree with Emery’s post-match comment that Duran has “huge potential.”
From their first recording contract, which Epstein said felt like the ultimate achievement, Beatles kept going “upwards and upwards.” No one knows if it will be that way for Villa. No one knows if they can relive 1982 but with all his success in Europa League and taking Villarreal to the Champions League semi-final, Emery has said, “we are going to try to enjoy the way.”
Villa, Lille and Benfica also bucked the trend of elite clubs winning by plenty. Too early for it to feel like salvation for Champions League’s new format but derided for making it easier for big clubs, the results can offer a bit of a salve to UEFA.