We’re back! After a triumphant end to the season, going to Istanbul to win the Europa League and then finishing 4th in Premier League, we had the Summer to enjoy ourselves.
Mine was full of drink, gigs, holidays and of course watching the World Cup as England fell just short yet again. Now back to the Villa and there have been changes to the squad.
Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers, two of the goalscorers in the 3-0 win over Freiburg, have moved on to Manchester United (£35M) and Chelsea (£117M) respectively. Lucas Digne has also departed to PSG while Jadon Sancho and Harvey Elliott have returned to their parent clubs after playing for us on loan.
Coming in to shore up the Midfield is Joao Gomes (Wolverhampton Wanderers) for 38M and the exciting Swiss International Johan Manzambi (Freiburg) £59.5M to add explosive pace. Alejandro Garnacho also joins us from Chelsea on a season’s Loan.
To ‘kick us off’, winning the Europa League, means that we now play in our 2nd European Super Cup, 43 years after our first. Back in 1983, we won a 2 legged affair over Barcelona after overturning a 1-0 deficit to win 3-0 at Villa Park thanks to goals from Gary Shaw, Gordon Cowans and Ken McNaught.
Now we face the back to back Champions League winners PSG at Red Bull Area Stadium in Salzburg, Austria.
We will be looking for revenge as PSG knocked us out of the Quarter Finals of the Champions League in 2025. Having lost 3-1 in Paris and falling 2-0 behind at Villa Park, a strong comeback with goals from Tielemans, John McGinn and Ezri Konsa saw us win the 2nd leg 3-2, losing 5-4 on aggregate. What a night that was.
This was actually the last time PSG have lost a leg in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Early team news is mixed in the Defensive Midfield front. The welcome return of Boubacar Kamara who had a serious Knee Injury is positive, but now Amadou Onana faces a long time out due to an ACL injury picked up playing for Belgium in the World Cup. Captain John McGinn is rated at 50/50 after picking up a knock in pre-season friendly.
Very much looking forward to this. We Lions had to wait 30 years to win a major trophy. Let’s make it two in three months!
Up The Villa!
Photo Thanks To Dan Lambert Photography