Aston Villa’s maiden UEFA Champions League campaign continues on home turf as Italian giants Juventus touch down at Villa Park on Wednesday night.
Despite lifting the European Cup trophy in the early 1980s, the Birmingham outfit had long been absent from Europe’s top table.
However, Villa fans no longer have to watch live football on TV on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Last season’s fourth-place Premier League finish ensured Villa would return to the continent’s grandest stage for the first time since 1983.
Unai Emery’s side came back with a bang.
Three consecutive victories to launch the newly formatted league phase brought the Lions to the brink of history.
An erratic performance in a dismal 1-0 defeat at Club Brugge on matchday four denied Villa a chance to become the first Champions League debutants to kick things off with four consecutive triumphs.
More importantly, they barely held onto the last automatic qualifying spot before the international break, boasting a narrow one-point lead on eighth-placed Atalanta.
History beckons for Emery
Emery has beaten Juventus twice at Europe’s top table with Sevilla and Villarreal in 2015 and 2022, respectively.
As a result, he could become the first manager in Champions League history to get the better of the record-time Italian champions with three different clubs.
The omens look promising for Villa.
In addition to a remarkable 1-0 win against Bayern Munich, they dispatched Bologna 2-0 in their last home outing in Europe.
Those victories form part of Villa’s imperious run of seven wins from their last eight European home games.
Favourable match-up
Despite entering this round amid a rotten six-game winless streak, Villa can draw confidence from the history books.
The abovementioned rout of Bologna marked their third consecutive home win against Italian clubs in major European competitions.
Interestingly, all three wins came ‘to nil,’ with none other than Juventus remaining the last Serie A team to find the net at Villa Park.
However, it was back in 1983.
Juventus have massively struggled on English soil since, picking up just three wins across their last 15 visits to these shores (D3, L9).
Defying that run would require Thiago Motta’s side to address their travel sickness after only winning once on their last seven Champions League travels (D2, L4).
