The two teams are emerging from the tunnel now, and we’ll be hearing the Champions League anthem for the first time at Villa Park in just a few moments.

Villa manager Unai Emery said yesterday that today’s game pits them against “one of the best teams in the world” in Bayern Munich.

The Spaniard said his team are “motivated” and “excited” to be back in the Champions League.

“We are coming back to Europe last year, Europe is something very important but very difficult. They are favourites tomorrow but we are at home.

“The most important thing is to be consistent in the season and the Premier League is the first objective.

“Tomorrow we are playing a special, special match for everybody but I am preparing the match the same as I did on Sunday against Ipswich.”

Bayern have only lost one of their last 10 Champions League meetings with English sides, winning seven and drawing two. Their last loss was a 0-3 defeat to Manchester City in the 2022/23 quarter-final first leg.

The German side won 9-2 versus Dinamo Zagreb in their opening game of the 2024/25 Champions League, but are winless in their last three away matches in the competition (D1 L2). They last had a longer winless run on the road between February and September 2016 (D2 L2), spanning the spells of Pep Guardiola (3) and Carlo Ancelotti (1).

Bayern registered 19 shots on target in their victory over Dinamo Zagreb; the most by a team in a single UEFA Champions League match on record (since 2003/04).

Harry Kane has been directly involved in seven goals in six career appearances against Aston Villa at Villa Park (five goals, two assists). He’s scored the game-winning goal at Villa Park on two previous occasions.

Jamal Musiala created more chances than any other player in the first round of this season’s Champions League – seven, with all of them in open play.

Villa won their first Champions League game 3-0 v Young Boys, and the only other English side to win their first two matches in the competition (since 1992/93) is Leicester City in 2016/17.

Unai Emery has already beaten Bayern Munich in the Champions League on two previous occasions, winning 3-0 in September 2017 in charge of PSG and 1-0 in April 2022 with Villarreal. The only manager to beat Bayern Munich in the competition with as many as three different teams is José Mourinho (with Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid).

Emery has only lost three of his previous 20 non-knockout stage games in the competition (W13 D4), although one of those defeats did come against Bayern Munich in December 2017.

Eleven years after Sir Alex Ferguson won his first European Cup, he was still manager of Manchester United, a season after his third final, a season before his fourth. Eleven years after Jose Mourinho’s maiden triumph, he was in his second spell at Chelsea, claiming the Premier League title for the third time. Eleven years after Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona passed their way to glory in 2009, he had a rare off-year at Manchester City, the only time in the last seven seasons when he did not secure the Premier League title.

And the only manager to make Aston Villa European champions? Eleven years after beating Bayern Munich in Rotterdam, Tony Barton agreed to become manager of a club in the Wessex League, the ninth flight of English football, the fifth tier of non-league.

Barton feels the forgotten European Cup winner, perhaps the lowest-profile manager ever to claim the club game’s most prestigious prize. Whereas Guardiola has coached Barcelona, Bayern and Manchester City, while Mourinho leapt from Porto to Chelsea and then Internazionale and Real Madrid, Barton had two managerial posts: at Villa and Northampton Town.

Villa have added the name of the late Gary Shaw, the 1982 European Cup winner who died recently, to their squad list on the back of the programme. It is a nice nod to the heroes of Rotterdam.

Among the class of 2024, it is a huge night for Jaden Philogene, who had not started a game since returning to Villa and spent last season in the Championship with Hull.

Villa and Bayern have met on just one occasion previously – that famous final in Rotterdam in 1982.

Villa, who had finished 11th in the First Division that season, faced a Bayern team containing Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in the final at Feyenoord’s De Kuip stadium, and ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a goal from English centre-forward Peter Withe.

That was the first and only European Cup in Villa’s history, while Bayern have since gone on to win three more – in 2001, 2013 and 2020.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is ready for a “special, special match” when his side welcome Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Villa, who opened their campaign with a 3-0 win away at Young Boys, will play their first home fixture in Europe’s top competition since a quarter-final defeat to Juventus in 1983.

German giants Bayern travel to Villa Park for a repeat of the 1982 European Cup final, which Villa famously won.

Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany has made two changes to the side that started the 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

In defence, Raphael Guerreiro drops out and Joshua Kimmich falls back to right-back, with Konrad Laimer taking his countryman’s place in midfield.

In attack, Jamal Musiala is replaced by Kingsley Coman.