Aston Villa visit Barcelona with previous ties level

Aston Villa travel to Barcelona on Wednesday looking to keep their perfect start to the Champions League league phase. It will be the fifth meeting between the clubs and the first since Villa’s Super Cup triumph over the Spanish side.

Villa sit ninth in the table with 12 points from nine matches. Their trip to Camp Nou comes against a club they have met only twice in UEFA competitions, with honours even.

The first meeting came in a UEFA Cup quarter-final in March 1978, when Barcelona won 4-3 on aggregate. Villa gained revenge in January 1983 with a 3-1 aggregate win in the UEFA Super Cup.

The first leg in 1978 was Johan Cruyff’s farewell appearance in the United Kingdom. Villa supporters gave the Dutch star a standing ovation when he was substituted late in the game, and his team-mates responded by coming back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Villa Park.

In the return leg, Villa right-back John Gidman was sent off in the first half, and Barcelona went on to reach the semi-finals. The 1983 Super Cup was far more dramatic, with three players sent off in a bruising encounter at Villa Park.

Gordon Cowans, who scored from the rebound of a missed penalty that night, later recalled: “The Barcelona players spent so much time arguing with the referee about his decision that I hit the worst penalty of my career. I normally put them in the bottom corner but this time I hit it only a yard to the keeper’s left and he managed to parry it.”

The clubs did not face each other when Villa visited Camp Nou for the Trofeu Joan Gamper in August 1984. Barcelona beat Boca Juniors 9-1 that day, while Villa lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich.