Who: Barcelona vs Aston Villa What: UEFA Champions League, matchday 4 When: Tuesday, November 2, Where: Spotify Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain How to follow: Al Jazeera will provide build-up and live updates from . It’s a big match in the fledgling UEFA Champions League standings, with Aston Villa seeking to extend their perfect start to the league phase with a daunting trip to Barcelona. Star-studded Barca are among the favourites to win the competition and sit top of La Liga after 10 wins from 11 matches.
But they are eighth in the league phase table after seeing their perfect start to the campaign ended by a 4-2 defeat at PSG in their most recent fixture. Though their domestic campaign has been slow to get going, Villa have won all three games, scoring 12 goals in Europe and will be keen to repeat their progress to the quarterfinals from 2024-25, when they went out narrowly against eventual winners PSG. It’s another huge milestone on an impressive journey for Villa, who are owned by V Sports, a holding company jointly controlled by Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris and US private equity investor Wes Edens.
They completed their takeover of the Birmingham-based club in 2019, following the club’s promotion back to the Premier League after three seasons in the Championship. Three bottom-half finishes followed but after Unai Emery was appointed in October 2022 following the departure of Steven Gerrard, the Spaniard guided Villa to seventh place at the end of that season and qualification for the UEFA Conference League, their first European campaign in well over a decade. England striker Ollie Watkins – now playing for Saudi side Al-Hilal – scored 27 goals as Emery’s side reached the semifinals and also secured a top-four finish in the Premier League, securing Champions League football for the first time and their first appearance in Europe’s top competition in 41 years.
A famous 1-0 win over Bayern Munich at Villa Park and a goalless draw with Juventus helped them progress to the quarterfinals where they were edged out by eventual champions PSG, despite Villa winning the second leg 3-2 at Villa Park. A sixth-placed finish in the Premier League saw Villa qualify for the Europa League last season and they swept through the group stage, winning seven of their eight games, before beating Lille, Bologna and Nottingham Forest in the knockouts and breezing past Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul in May to lift the trophy. Another top-four Premier League finish came alongside it and took Emery’s side back into Europe’s top competition where they will now play on one of the biggest stages in world football, seeking to show they belong there.
While Hansi Flick’s side will start as strong favourites, they have not kept a clean sheet in the Champions League in 18 games – the longest run of any team in this season’s edition – and Villa will have their eye on writing another chapter in their fairytale story of recent seasons. After a perfect start to the campaign with thumping wins over Feyenoord and at Galatasaray, Hansi Flick’s side lost an epic Champions League encounter 4-2 against PSG to suffer their first defeat. A 2-1 home loss to Real Madrid followed four days later in El Clasico, which ended their perfect start to their La Liga campaign after nine straight wins.
Barca, however, returned to winning ways by thrashing Alaves 6-1 on Saturday to return to the top of the table after briefly being overhauled by Atletico Madrid. Lamine Yamal scored one and set up another, meaning he has notched 12 goals and 11 assists in all competitions this season. He already holds the record for Champions League assists by a teenager with 13, and is surely bound to find the single goal he needs in order to add the goals record before he turns 20 in July.
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