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7 Games Aston Villa Fans Should Rewatch While Football Takes a Break

As we wait patiently for football to return, now is a good time to look back and reminisce about simpler times.

During Aston Villa's great history, there have been plenty of moments to savour. A founding member of the Football League in 1888 and the Premier League in 1992, they are one of the bastions of English football. 


So sit back and enjoy seven of Villa's greatest games. 

Aston Villa 2-0 Nottingham Forest (1981)

The decisive result that took Villa ever closer to their last league title was beating the vanguard of English football, Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest.

A penalty from Gordan Cowans and a strike on the stroke of half-time by club legend Peter Withe would see Forest off.

Incredibly, the Villains won the league this campaign by only using 14 players the whole season.

Bayern Munich 0-1 Aston Villa (1982)​​

On Villa's greatest night, Tony Barton's men caused a major upset to become the fourth English side to win the European Cup. Villa's opponents boasted brilliant quality, including ​Karl-Heinz Rumminigge, Klaus Augenthaler and ​Paul Breitner. 


Title winners the season before, Villa were stuttering. Ron Atkinson, the manager that had ended their title-winning hoodoo, quit the club in February after disagreements over transfers, with the team sitting in 17th. 


However, the stars had aligned for the club - seeing off Dynamo Kyiv and Anderlecht in the European Cup to reach the final in Rotterdam. 


An unknown 23-year-old goalkeeper would end up being the hero - Nigel Spink - following an early Jimmy Rimmer. Spink had the game of his life stopping everything that the Bavarians threw at him.


Villa's gameplan was to hit Bayern on the counter. Star man Tony Morley was the man to provide the bit of magic to win the game, and that's exactly what he did. 


Morley turned Hans Weiner inside out and crossed to leave the ball on a platter for Peter Withe to smash home. The rest is history.

Aston Villa 3-0 Barcelona (1982)

A star-studded Barcelona side came to Villa Park holding a slender lead in the European Super Cup after beating the Villains 1-0 at Camp Nou.

A cagey and tough match followed and it looked as if the trophy might be heading back to Catalonia. Step forward, Gary Shaw.

In the 80th minute, a botched free-kick routine ended up working very well and the English midfielder fired home.

The game went to extra-time, and with momentum on the Villa's side, a five-minute double salvo from Gordon Cowans and Ken McNaught sealed the club's second European success.

Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United (1994)

​League Cup triumphs are a speciality for ​Villa - the club has won the competition five times. In 1994, they clashed against the champions of England and their title rivals from a season before. 

Villa wanted to lay down a marker having gone so close in the ​Premier League. They club went into the game on poor form, losing three on the bounce. 


The game did not follow the script. Villa played fluid counter-attacking football, with youngster David Fenton and Dean Saunders wreaking havoc on Man Utd's defence.


Slick interplay set up the late, great Dalian Atkinson for the first, and two goals from Saunders capped off his brilliant individual performance.

Aston Villa 3-0 Leeds United (1996)

Some clubs have an affinity with competitions - Villa really like the League Cup. The club's success in 1996 was the clubs' second titles in three seasons. 

This side was much changed from the 1994 triumph. It was a more youthful, vibrant team including Ugo Ehiogu, Gareth Southgate and a potent Dwight Yorke.

A conclusive result followed as ​Leeds couldn't deal with the brilliant Yorke and his partnership with Savo Milosevic.

​Aston Villa 4-1 Basel (2001)

Aston Villa v Basel

Ah, the Intertoto Cup. That old competition that had three winners who gained entry to the UEFA Cup, starting in July and finishing in August. Before you say something you regret - no, it was not a pre-season tournament akin to the Emirates Cup. It was serious stuff.

Villa won it in 2001 alongside Shearer's Newcastle and Ronaldinho's Paris Saint-Germain by beating Slaven Belupo, Rennes and finally, Basel, to bring home the trophy. A small trophy that looked like an Under-12s cup, but a trophy nonetheless.

After drawing 1-1 in Basel, club icon Juan Pablo Angel notched in a brace, with future England international Darius Vassell and David Ginola getting the others to send the Swiss club packing. The kits were much better back then.

Aston Villa 2-1 Derby County (2019)

Jack Grealish,Dean Smith

Last season's playoff triumph is sure to give every Villa fan chills. Watching local lads Dean Smith and Jack Grealish hoist silverware aloft to take their club back to the big time is a story that isn't often seen in globalised, modern football.

In the final, the club faced off against Frank Lampard's Derby County and it's safe to say the Villains were up against it. The Rams were the country's darlings, fresh after beating Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds in a brilliant semi-final.

But goals from Anwar El Ghazi and John McGinn ended Villa's four-year exodus from the top flight.


Source : 90min