The UEFA Champions League is back in action with another round of matches this week as Bayern Munich take on Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side in a must-see clash at Villa Park.
Bayern Munich are currently at the top of the Bundesliga standings and have been in excellent form so far this season. The Bavarian giants were held to a 1-1 draw by Bayer Leverkusen last time out and will look to take it up a notch this week.
Aston Villa, on the other hand, are in fifth place in the Premier League table at the moment and have been fairly impressive this term. The Lions played out a 2-2 draw against Ipswich Town last weekend and have a point to prove going into this game.
Both teams have good players in their ranks and will look to put them to good use to win this game. Not least England’s top two strikers in Ollie Watkins and Harry Kane who will look to inspire their team to victory.
Reprising the 1982 European Cup final, Aston Villa and Bayern Munich will meet for the first time in more than 42 years and there are bragging rights to fight for here.
Both sides emphatically won their first league phase fixture with Villa thumping Young Boys 3-0 and Bayern smashing nine past Dinamo Zagreb in a record win.
The FootballCastle takes a quick look at both teams individually and how they compare ahead of this Matchday 2 fixture.
Dangerous Aston Villa
The Villains have made a solid start to the current season and triumphantly returned to Europe’s premier club competition after 41 years out. In six rounds of the Premier League, they have suffered only one defeat – a 2-0 loss to Arsenal – and they currently have 13 points in fifth place.
However, the issues for Emery will only increase on a weekly basis after transitioning to a packed schedule (matches every three days), fatigue will undoubtedly accumulate, and has already contributed to John McGinn’s injury. Additionally, there have been more pronounced problems in terms of gameplay, particularly at right-back where Ipswich took advantage last weekend and managed to earn a 2-2 draw.
Overall, the Birmingham side are conceding far too many goals, which poses a significant concern against Bayern in the Champions League. Villa have kept their opponents at bay in only eight of their last 44 Premier League matches and their lone clean sheet this season came in the victory against Young Boys.
Bayern Munich on fire
The Bavarians have made an explosive start to their Champions League campaign after delivering a devastating 9-2 victory over Dinamo Zagreb to become the first team in 34 years to score nine goals in a single UCL match. Harry Kane was responsible for almost half of those goals, netting four times and establishing himself as the highest-scoring English player in the competition’s history with a total of 33 goals.
Vincent Kompany and his team are also faring well in the Bundesliga with four consecutive wins to start the season, two of which were won by four or more goals. However, they recorded their first setback in last weekend’s 1-1 draw against the reigning champions, Bayer Leverkusen.
An injury to Kane is cause for concern but initial diagnoses suggest nothing serious yet he may miss this trip back to England. It’s noteworthy that Villa Park is one of Kane’s favourite away grounds to play in having delivered five goals and two assists in six games.
Aston Villa vs Bayern Munich Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
The only previous meeting between the two clubs was in that aforementioned 1982 European Cup final which ended in a narrow 1-0 victory for Aston Villa’s only major European title to date.
Pertinently, the Villa manager has already defeated the Bavarians on two occasions with Paris Saint-Germain and Villarreal.
Bayern Munich are winless in their last three away matches in the Champions League but are currently on a run of 13 games without defeat in all competitions (W11, D2), scoring a whopping 57 goals. This stat proves the potency of their attack and shows just how much is required of Villa to keep the ball away from the back of their own net.
This is a rare UCL fixture that promises to be intriguing as even though Bayern appear to be the favourites, Aston Villa cannot be written off.
They have a manager who was made for big European nights and are well capable of putting on a show worthy of all three points.
