Aston Villa vs Bayern Munich preview, H2H, team news, line-ups and prediction

42 years after the famous 1-0 victory against Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final, Aston Villa will host the Bavarians at Villa Park on Wednesday night in what promises to be a thrilling encounter.

Villa, one of only six English clubs to have claimed the European Cup, are set to make their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League in 2024.

Since the tournament’s rebranding in 1992/93, Villa have participated regularly in the UEFA Cup and later the Europa League but have yet to replicate their remarkable 1982 triumph in the Champions League in recent years.

However, Villa’s return to the Champions League after over 40 years was marked by an impressive 3-0 victory over Swiss champions, Young Boys. Despite a challenging start to the match, goals from Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey, and Amadou Onana secured a comfortable win for the Villains.

The Villains will aim to become the second Premier League club, after Leicester City in 2016, to win their first two games in the Champions League since its 1992 revamp.

Over the weekend, Villa missed the chance to move into second place in the league after letting a 2-1 lead slip, drawing with newly promoted Ipswich Town, and now sit fifth in the standings.

Alongside their domestic resurgence under Unai Emery, Villa enjoyed a stellar European run last season, winning their first six home games on their way to the Conference League semi-finals, marking a return to UEFA competition after 13 years.

A successful manager in European competitions, Emery has already claimed two victories over Bayern and boasts an impressive record of just three losses in 20 Champions League group stage matches. However, one of those defeats came in 2017 while managing Paris Saint-Germain, against Bayern.

Villa now face a formidable challenge as they prepare to take on the Bundesliga giants, who recently dismantled Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 at the Allianz Arena. This emphatic win saw Bayern equal Real Madrid’s 1990 feat of scoring nine goals in a European Cup match. Harry Kane netted four times, surpassing Wayne Rooney to become the highest-scoring English player in Champions League history with 33 goals.

Although Kompany’s perfect start was halted with a 1-1 draw against reigning Bundesliga champions, Bayer Leverkusen, recent results have bolstered the belief that the Bundesliga title will return to Munich at the end of the season.

In the Champions League, Bayern are on an impressive run, remaining unbeaten in 41 group-stage matches, with 37 victories since September 2017. Having made the quarter-finals or better in 12 of their last 13 campaigns, Bayern aim to secure a top-eight finish this season to avoid a tricky playoff and a win at Villa Park is certainly part of their plan.

Aston Villa Vs Bayern Munich match details

• Date: Wednesday, 2 October 2024
• Location: Birmingham, England
• Venue: Villa Park
• Kick-off time: 08:00 PM BST, 07:00 PM UTC,
  09:00 PM CET, 03:00 PM ET
• Referee: Radu Petrescu
• Assistant referees: Radu Ghinguleac, Mircea Mihail Grigoriu
• Fourth official: Marcel Birsan
• VAR: Rob Dieperink
• Assistant VAR: Cătălin Popa
• Tickets: Fans can buy Champions League tickets for the game through the clubs, UEFA or trusted resellers online.

Match stats and head-to-head

• Villa could become just the second English team to win their first two debut Champions League matches after Leicester City’s 2016-17 campaign where they defeated Club Brugge 3-0 and Porto 1-0.

• Harry Kane has a stellar record at Villa Park with seven-goal contributions in six games (five goals, two assists), including match-winners for Tottenham on two occasions.

• Morgan Rogers was the star of the show in Villa’s win over Young Boys, creating four chances from open play—more than any English player on their Champions League debut since Danny Welbeck’s five for Manchester United against Besiktas in 2009.

• Emery’s opening match at Villa also saw him become just the sixth manager to lead six different clubs in the Champions League, following spells at Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, PSG, and Villarreal, joining José Mourinho, Ronald Koeman, Claudio Ranieri, Rafael Benítez, and Carlo Ancelotti.

• The Spanish manager boasts an impressive record in the Champions League group stages, having lost just three of his last 20 non-knockout games (13 wins, four draws). One of those losses, however, was a 3-1 defeat to Bayern while managing PSG in 2017.

• This encounter marks only the second meeting between Villa and Bayern, the first being the 1982 European Cup final, where Peter Withe’s goal secured Villa’s triumph in Rotterdam.

• Bayern have been formidable against English sides in recent years, losing just one of their last 10 Champions League meetings (seven wins, two draws), with the sole defeat being a 3-0 loss to Manchester City in the 2022-23 quarter-finals.

• Emery has already defeated Bayern twice in the Champions League—3-0 with PSG in 2017 and 1-0 with Villarreal in 2022. The only manager to beat Bayern with three different clubs in this competition is Mourinho, achieving this with Chelsea, Inter, and Real Madrid.

Team news

Villa’s captain, John McGinn, has missed the last two matches for the club with a hamstring injury. Pending a late fitness test, the 29-year-old will miss Wednesday’s match against Bayern and potentially Sunday’s clash against Manchester United.

Matty Cash is also unavailable with a thigh injury, while Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara, who have been out for an extended period, are back in full training but still not prepared to return to first-team action.

As Leon Bailey has recently rejoined the squad, Villa’s forward options remain unaffected by any absences. Jhon Duran, with four substitute goals this season, is tied with leading striker Ollie Watkins – who netted once again on Sunday – as Villa’s top scorer to date.

Vincent Kompany will be without Sacha Boey and Josip Stanisic who are both ruled out with knee injuries while summer signing Hiroki Ito remains sidelined with a foot injury.

Despite concerns over an ankle injury after limping off late against Leverkusen, Kane is expected to successfully wiggle off injury concerns to start against one of his favourite opponents on Wednesday.

In another development, veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer returned to action on Saturday after recovering from a thigh injury.

Predicted starting lineup

Aston Villa predicted starting lineup:

Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins.

Bayern Munich predicted starting lineup:

Neuer; Guerreiro, Upamecano, Kim, Davies; Kimmich, Pavlovic; Olise, Musiala, Gnabry; Kane.

Prediction

Villa will hope to give their fans a memorable first night under the Champions League nights on Wednesday.

Doing so against an in-form Bayern side that is yet to lose a game this season would be a daunting task for the villains.

However, if there’s one thing Unai Emery is good at doing it’s upsetting the odds and going the distance in European competitions.

It’ll be a clash between a coach with a European pedigree against a team with a European pedigree and it’s difficult to predict who will upturn the other to emerge victorious.

This match promises to be thrilling and goals from both teams are expected in this match with the team with the better defence expected to emerge victorious.

We’re predicting a 3-2 win for Bayern.