Mignolet's blood and the sending-off of Barcelona's stars: a fiery history ignites before the Champions League showdown
Villa Park battle returns
Forty-three years ago, on a night still etched into the memory of Barcelona's supporters in blood, anger and red cards, Aston Villa wrote a controversial chapter at the Blaugrana's expense.
Today, history brings the two giants together once more in the Champions League, in a clash that recalls one of the most dramatic Super Cup matches ever played.
Barcelona host Aston Villa tomorrow, Tuesday, at the Camp Nou, 46 years after the famous "Battle of Villa Park". This is a match that carries a rich historical legacy going well beyond three points.
Night of blood in Birmingham
"Mundo Deportivo" tells the story, which dates back to 26 January 1983, when the two sides met in the second leg of the European Super Cup. The competition was then contested over two legs between the European Cup winners and the Cup Winners' Cup holders.
Barcelona had won the first leg at the Camp Nou 1-0 through a Marcos Alonso goal, despite the absence of their new star Diego Armando Maradona due to hepatitis. The return leg at Villa Park turned into a real battle.
Aston Villa, European champions in 1982 after beating Bayern Munich through Peter Withe's goal in the Rotterdam final, were a side marked by physical strength and ferocity more than by skill. On that night, Barcelona paid a heavy price.
Withe caught Barcelona's legendary defender Migueli with a deliberate elbow, and Belgian referee Alexis Ponnet waved play on. "Tarzan" carried on with his shirt stained in blood and a deep cut to his lip that required stitches, cementing the legend of his loyalty after he had played the 1979 Basel final with a broken collarbone.
The drama did not stop there. In the 80th minute Gary Shaw equalised, taking the match to extra time, which witnessed the height of refereeing chaos. On 100 minutes the hosts were handed a penalty described as extremely generous.
By now Barcelona were down to ten men after Julio Alberto's dismissal, and Marcos Alonso then collected a straight red for dissent. Amid the chaos, Gordon Cowans (100) and Ken McNaught (105) struck twice, and Aston Villa snatched the title with a 3-0 win.
Cruyff paves the way
That clash was not the first between the two sides. They met in the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup in 1977-1978, with Barcelona, led by Johan Cruyff, drawing the first leg in England 2-2 through goals from Cruyff and Zuviría, before securing qualification in the return leg at the Camp Nou with a 2-1 win through Migueli and Asensi. They later went out against Eindhoven, who were crowned champions.
Now, with Chelsea having joined Liverpool and Manchester United on the roll of English champions, Aston Villa, the forgotten European champions between 1979 and 1982 alongside Brian Clough's legendary Nottingham Forest, return once more to stand against Barcelona. This time it comes in the Champions League and its new format.
