Dave Woodhall watches Villa draw at home to Juventus.
Great European occasions are becoming a regular thing at Villa Park. Big names are almost as regular – this year we’ve already seen off Ajax and Bayern Munich but Juventus are perhaps bigger than either of them. Since the draw was made there have been comparisons with 1983, although neither team are anything like the quality that was on show that night, when the European champions took on a virtual World XI.
W2at we did have in profusion, though, was the pre-match spectacle that has made the Champions League the all-encompassing monolith that you might hate but you can’t deny is far and away the biggest show in town, any town. The flags, the anthem, the latest in a line of big banners (or whatever they’re called). They were all there and they were still greeted with enthusiasm, as was the trophy display by the best keeper in the world. Just another night at Villa Park.
Unai had caused a bit of a stir with a central defensive pairing of Pau Torres and Diege Carlos, with the welcome return of Boubacar Kamara in front of them. It seemed as though he was going for a safety-first approch, a return to basics in trying to improve Villa’s form, and this was certainly a long way from the free-flowing football that got us into this position. With Juve struggling to win games but with the best defensive record in Serie A, we were never going to revisit the classic of Shaw, Cowans and Morley, Platini, Boniek and Rossi.
Not that the game was without chances. Torres wasn’t far off early on with a glancing header from a corner, while Ollie Watkins brought out a smart save from Dino Zoff’s successor and the best chance of the first half came late on, Lucas Digne’s free-kick hitting the post with the Juve keeper beaten.
Villa continued to have the better chances after the break, Watkins and John McGinn both having chances blocked while at the other end Emiliano Martinez showed why he won those trophies with one of the finest saves even he has ever managed. Still Villa were unable to get the goal that would have made qualification to the knockout stages almost certain. Then deep into stoppage time the ball was lumped deep into the Juventus penalty area.
I’m not one for generalisations or re-hashing old cliches, so I’ll not say that the referee will be driving a new Ferrari nor that the VAR checkers saved themselves from going home to a horse’s head. It wasn’t corruption, it was downright incompetence, A ref who had favoured Juventus all evening ruled that Diego Carlos breathing on the keeper was enough of a distraction to disallow Morgan Rogers’ late winner. And that was it.
A point wasn’t enough to keep Villa in the frame for the automatic spots but was a big help in potentially making the play-offs. A clean sheet was a boost for the team’s biggest failing this season. Boubacar Kamara showed how much he’s been missed throught the year. And we were disappointed that we only drew with Juventus.