Emiliano Martínez’s ears are ringing, but Manchester United’s are on fire | Aston Villa

THRILLER IN THE VILLA

While Aston Villa showed a lack of class by ripping off their fans in terms of entry fees, the club did pretty much everything right ahead of last night’s win over Bayern Munich. Away from the pitch, the 1982 Big Cup Boys were at an official event to mark their historic achievement, while their recently retired comrade Gary Shaw was remembered on the front page of yesterday’s matchday programme. As a further foretaste, the former striker was listed on a team list one last time. His name appeared at the bottom of the list of current Villa players trying to emulate the successes of him and his teammates.

Having paid their tickets in full, the home fans were determined to get their money’s worth and, faced with the visit of such overbearing opponents, Villa Park rocked with the kind of loud noise you just don’t get when visiting Fulham. After a slow start that suggested they were playing the occasion rather than the game, it took 22 minutes, when Villa’s players scored a disallowed goal from Pau Torres, to realize that Bayern were indeed fallible, and they won thanks to a goal from another super-subject, Jhon Durán, contender for the season, as well as several breathtaking saves from Emiliano Martínez, who grows at least two additional tentacles with every pass. “It’s definitely the loudest Villa Park I’ve ever heard since I joined the club,” the Argentine goalkeeper said after the game. “It hurt my ears in some places. It is a club that is moving forward. That’s the main reason why I want to stay at this football club.”

Manchester United, a club on the decline, are in Portugal tonight for a comparatively low-key Bigger Vase adventure as they try to recover from Sunday’s embarrassment at home to Tottenham, and it seems unimaginable That their owners didn’t realize how Villa has been completely transformed under Unai Emery. Erik ten Hag, appointed ahead of Emery, continues to complain incessantly about needing more time and player talent, while the Spaniard takes Villa from success to success and simply gets on with his job without even mentioning the worst kind of talent what he was dealing with had to fight.

“As always when we don’t win we are very disappointed and also angry; We are angry with ourselves and especially when you lose a game like Sunday,” Ten Hag said before United’s game against Porto. “We are crazy and from the madness we have to draw motivation and move on to the next game.” And while the Dutchman may have channeled his inner Howard Beale by proclaiming that he and his players are mad as hell and won’t take this anymore, one suspects it’s a sentiment that is increasingly being embraced by the high-performance and fringe players who are currently winning over fans who currently roam the corridors of power at Old Trafford.

LIVE ON THE BIG WEBSITE

Join Scott Murray in early Euro Vase fun with Ferencvaro’s 1-3 draw against Tottenham, while Tim de Lisle handles the later Porto tie with Manchester United 1-1.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“My wife made broccoli. Maybe that’s why” – Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi was keen to pay tribute to the vegetable when asked what inspired his hat-trick heroics against Celtic.

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The Pod Squad are back for the latest episode of Football Weekly, with Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertson and Nicky Bandini chewing the Bigger Cup fat and looking ahead to this weekend’s Premier League.

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Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s non-prize winner of Letter of the Day is…Martin Fisher. You can view the terms and conditions for our competitions here.