𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The temperatures were cooler and so too were the stakes.

This was not May 26, 1982, nor were Aston Villa up against the might of Bayern Munich in the final of Europe’s most prestigious competition. That balmy summer evening was now a mild October autumn.

Rotterdam, as a place, has changed. Feyenoord’s De Kuip, the stadium which hosted 46,00 spectators on that famous night, has undergone significant structural upgrades, adding a new roof, all-seater stands and a moat surrounding the pitch.

Culturally, the stadium has changed, too. Fans in the 1980s were not subjected to Coldplay songs and the Dutch version of Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ pre-match.

For all the stadium uplifts and evolution in music, nothing distracted supporters from feasting on the nostalgia. After all, Aston Villa were returning to Rotterdam, the scene of the club’s greatest-ever triumph. It was 43 years ago since Villa beat Bayern in the European Cup final. Football rarely affords an opportunity to go back and retrace old memories, but in supporters’ minds, and on this occasion, they could. 

Members of that European-winning team flew out on Wednesday morning, having been offered the opportunity to attend and relive their crowning glories. They noted that despite the passing of time, some things had stayed the same. The stadium’s core structure remains intact, as do the canals a few minutes from the ground which Villa fans recall sitting along on the afternoon before the game in ’82.

A heavy contingent congregated by Rotterdam’s Old Harbour on Thursday afternoon, stretching out along the water. Some fathers there that night now had sons and daughters making the same trip all these years later. 

The feeling was different for Unai Emery, naturally with less room for sentiment. The desire for some of the nostalgic undertones, though, were leaned into, with Emery wanting his players to use the setting of Villa’s magnum opus as a tool of inspiration. 

“We have to feel the history,” Unai Emery asserted in his pre-match press conference. 

His current Villa iteration took note of the adversity the class of 1982 had gone through that night. Whether it was goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer being forced off with an injury ten minutes in, or Bayern’s sustained, unrelenting wave of attacks battering his replacement Nigel Spink’s goal.

Nigel Spink celebrates Villa becoming champions of Europe in Rotterdam in 1982 (Peter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images)

Over 51,000 supporters filled the stadium this time, including Spink and team-mate Kenny Swain. It would not have been lost on Spink that Villa were, once more, forced into an early goalkeeper change. And the replacement of Villa’s No 1, in this case Emiliano Martinez, came even earlier than his own introduction.

Martinez had felt pain in his calf during the warm-up, meaning Marco Bizot, unbeknownst to everyone outside of the dressing room, came into the starting XI. The 34-year-old’s inclusion was only revealed once he stepped onto the pitch.

Back in his homeland, Bizot was immediately forced to adjust his mindset to one of playing from the outset.

“I think he (Martinez) felt something during the warm-up,” Bizot told TNT Sports afterwards. “The goalkeeper coach (Javi Garcia) said he was going inside, so ‘do your thing and just be ready,’ so that’s what I did.”

Like Spink, Bizot was Villa’s best player early on, increasingly stoic in the face of heavy pressure. Every missed chance ratcheted up an atmosphere that had aimed to perturb Villa’s players, demonstrated in some Feyenoord supporters setting off fireworks outside the visitors’ hotel in the early hours of Thursday morning.

During breaks in play, Bizot would run over to the touchline, receiving instructions from Garcia.

Bizot challenges for the ball in Thursday’s game in Rotterdam (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Neither’s preparation had been ideal, not that anyone could tell. In the first half, Bizot saved at his near post, tipped another over the bar and, for good measure, took a thump just four minutes in when punching away a corner.

“I’ve played here in my career many times and I can count the amount on one hand that we have taken a victory,” smiled Bizot.

Bizot is an accomplished No 2 and, depending on who you ask, was Villa’s only data-led signing of the summer. He was viewed as a low-cost, highly experienced backup who also had the mental aptitude to perform on nights like this. He served as a significant upgrade on the previous No 2 Robin Olsen, with Bizot’s data across certain metrics, such as claims from crosses and set plays, being not too dissimilar to Martinez.

Villa were flawed in the first half and, akin to the team in front of Spink in 1982, rode their luck at times. Miskicks and skewed shots were let-offs. Feyenoord head coach Robin van Persie insisted his team were denied a perfectly fine goal after the officials adjudged Matty Cash to have been blocked during Feyenoord’s corner routine.

Most impressively, Villa found a way to recompose, a trait that had previously been absent. Feyenoord did not have the power of 1980s Bayern but are unbeaten in the Eredivisie and represented a stern test.

But gradually, Villa garnered control in the second half, emboldened by intelligent substitutions and the attacking unit finding the critical, final action, courtesy of Emiliano Buendia’s strike. 

From thereon in, Villa never appeared to doubt themselves. The 2,400 away supporters situated high and above the netting wrapped around the pitch grew in voice while the home atmosphere flattened. The move that culminated in John McGinn’s goal was bustling and incisive, speaking of a rediscovered cutting edge. 

Bizot, though, remained laser-focused. He jumped out of the goal to smother soon after Villa’s second and just like the man he was standing in for once more, went through his own act of showmanship, receiving a yellow card for his troubles.

“He has experience,” said Emery. “We signed him with the clear rule for him (to be the No 2). He used his experience to play with this atmosphere. We are so, so happy. We are proud of how we are responding. We can speak individually about some players, especially Marco Bizot — a fantastic guy, a fantastic professional. We need players like him.”

Bizot’s name was sung at full-time, with Pau Torres dancing alongside the Dutch goalkeeper, cajoling him into bathing in the deserved praise from the away end. Admittedly, the stakes were far less here yet, like Spink, Bizot was the goalkeeper suddenly drafted in that went on to play a crucial role in a Villa victory in Rotterdam.

(Top photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)