It’s no overstatement to say that fixtures don’t come much bigger than this. Villa are all set to face Bayern Munich at Villa Park in arguably one of our most anticipated games of the modern era. It will be a serious test of our resolve against a true European giant, and one that has an almost scripted golden thread back to Villa’s triumph in Rotterdam in 1982.

Such matches don’t just come about by chance or mere good fortune. Under Unai Emery, Villa have evolved remarkably. Prior to the Spaniard’s arrival, we were a side that struggled to string together a series of comprehensible passes, let alone fathom the art of consistently winning football matches. Emery has systematically improved every element of Villa’s playing style, managing against all odds to reach the Europa Conference League before achieving the unthinkable in Champions League qualification. All this improvement and progress will be measured and vigorously tested against Bayern Munich.
The players and supporters have earned the right to be back at the top table of European football. For those of us with a few seasons under our belts, it has been a rollercoaster ride with the lows of relegation, countless bad managers, and even worse players testing all of our faith. That’s without mentioning previous owners. However, these experiences make the joy of days like promotion from The Championship at Wembley, retaining our Premier League status the following...