Prince William rode every moment of his beloved Aston Villa’s remarkable 1-0 upset of German powerhouse Bayern Munich, in the club’s first Champions League home game in 41 years.
Appearing in the tournament for the first time since 1983-84 courtesy of their fourth-placed finish in the 2023/24 Premier League season, a second-half wonder strike from Jhon Duran from beyond the box with Manuel Neuer caught out of position was enough to secure a precious three points.
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Coach Unai Emery sent the 20-year-old Duran on in the 70th minute and the Colombia forward, who has made a habit of scoring goals from the bench, did it again with a brilliant left-footed effort from about 25m to beat Neuer.
“With all due deference, there’s only one King at Villa Park at the moment,” cried Stan Sport commentator Dan Mann after Duran found the back of the net, as the future English monarch cheered from the stands.
Keeper and Argentina World Cup hero Emi Martinez came up clutch at the death to deny Bayern a share of the points, blocking Harry Kane’s close range header mere seconds before the final whistle.
The victory was rife with symbolism; Villa’s greatest trophy, the 1982 European final win, came over Bayern Munich 1-0.
It continues Villa’s resurgence since making an emotional return to the Premier League in 2019/20 after being relegated just three years prior; since Emery took over from Steven Gerrard in October 2022, they have secured top-seven finishes, and qualified for first the Europa League and now the Champions League, in successive seasons.
Villa now sit with two wins from two starts at the tournament, having defeated Swiss side Young Boys 3-0 in the first round of matches.
The result was one of a number of upsets to occur within hours of one another at the celebrated tournament, with Kylian Mbappe coming off the bench but unable to prevent defending champions Real Madrid from losing 1-0 at unheralded Lille.
With Mbappe starting as a substitute in Lille on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) after a minor hamstring injury, the decisive goal came from Canada striker Jonathan David ‘s penalty deep into first-half stoppage time. A video review ruled that midfielder Eduardo Camavinga handled the ball.
David scored a hat-trick last weekend and shot confidently past goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who was replacing the injured Thibaut Courtois.
Mbappe came on in the 57th minute.
It was Madrid’s first loss in the competition since a 4-0 hammering by Manchester City in the 2023 semi-final return leg.
Brazil teenager Endrick became the youngest Champions League starter for Madrid at 18 years, 73 days old. He surpassed the mark set by former Madrid great Raúl Gonzalez, who was 18 years, 78 days old when he faced Ajax in 1995.
Liverpool coach Arne Slot got his first taste of a European night at Anfield and saw his team beat Bologna 2-0, thanks to goals from midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and prolific forward Mohamed Salah.
Juventus had goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio sent off in the 59th minute for a handball yet still won 3-2 at Leipzig.
Slovenia forward Benjamin Sesko scored both goals for Leipzig, but Serbia’s Dusan Vlahovic did the same for 10-man Juve before Francisco Conceicao netted in the 82nd minute.
Earlier, Atalanta and Feyenoord got their first wins in the competition’s second round of matches.
Italian side Atalanta coasted to a 3-0 win over Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk, and Dutch club Feyenoord secured a gritty 3-2 win at tournament newcomers Girona.
Albanian Berat Djimsiti, Nigerian Ademola Lookman, and Italian Raoul Bellanova scored for Atalanta in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. It was officially a home game for Shakhtar, who are playing at German club Schalke’s stadium because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Girona led through centre-back David Lopez’s close-range finish, but the visitors equalised with an own goal from Yangel Herrera, then took the lead thanks to Antoni Milambo’s 31st-minute strike.
Donny van de Beek made it 2-2, but another own goal, this time from Ladislav Krejci, gave Feynoord – Slot’s former club – victory in a match where both teams missed a penalty.
Kerem Akturkoglu, Angel Di Maria, Alexander Bah and Orkun Kokcu scored for Benfica in a 4-0 rout of Atletico Madrid, and Monaco netted a last-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Dinamo Zagreb thanks to Denis Zakaria’s penalty.
Sturm Graz lost 1-0 at home to Club Brugge, who won thanks to a curling strike from Christos Tzolis.
(with AAP)
The Roarhttps://https://ift.tt/c0WOV3y galore! Prince William goes off as Aston Villa stun German heavyweights, reigning UCL champs rocked by Lille
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