Aston Villa vs. Bayern Munich, for the Champions League: summary, goal, saves by Dibu Martínez and controversies

Los Villanos, with the Argentine goalkeeper as their star, beat the German team 1-0, at home.

Aston Villa vs Bayern Munich: Extraordinary save from Dibu Martínez in the corner!

Aston Villa achieved a great success thanks to Dibu Martínez. With the goalkeeper as one of the main figures, Unai Emery’s team beat Bayern Munich 1-0, at home at Villa Park, for the second round of the Champions League. In this way, the Villains achieved their second straight victory in the competition and ended the Germans’ undefeated record of 41 games without defeats.

Jhon Durán, the best substitute in the Premier League, the man who has scored five goals from the bench in nine games, gave Aston Villa the victory against Bayern Munich in the replay of the 1982 European Cup final.

After 41 years of waiting, Villa Park once again enjoyed the best club competition and was able to savor it with a victory delivered by the Colombian, who has become Unai Emery’s secret weapon and the one he turns to when he needs to unblock a match.

Dibu Martínez – who will not be in the next double date of Qualifiers towards the 2026 World Cup as a result of a FIFA sanction – shone with several key saves. For example, one to Michael Olise (who was going to the corner) and, in the last play of the game, a headbutt to Harry Kane.

The best of Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich for date 2 of the Champions League 24/25

In a vibrant atmosphere, with a tifo of the Villa players with Emery in the center, those from Birmingham did not come out scared against the a priori Bayern ogre. If four decades ago the Bavarians were favorites with Breitner, Rumenigge and Hoeness, it was logical to think that with Kane, Olise and Davies they would be again.

The fireworks that colored Villa Park to welcome the Champions League gave way to a match in which Bayern was never comfortable and in which Villa took the lead after 22 minutes in a definition by Pau Torres with the toe. The goal was the first scored in the Champions League in this stadium since the 1982 quarterfinals, when Paolo Rossi scored for Juventus. But then VAR did not exist as there is now and the technology detected an offside at the beginning of Jacob Ramsey’s play.

The goal was disallowed and with Ramsey injured, each of the two teams suffered from a flank. Bayern, for the always noted Upamecano, who was in the race with Ollie Watkins; Villa, with Lucas Digne, constantly attacked by Olise.

The Frenchman, an old acquaintance of the Premier from his past at Crystal Palace, had the best for the Germans, in a screwed shot from outside the area that was aimed at the goal and that made Emi Martínez fly with a changed hand.

With a certain slowness and heaviness, the game reached the final moments with Bayern anxious, very advanced, and Villa pending the movements of Emery, who brought in Durán with twenty minutes left to continue exploiting the soft Upamecano.

The Spaniard’s decision took ten minutes to pay. Torres, with the bad taste in his mouth of the disallowed goal, retaliated with a forty-meter pass from the defense that raced for the Colombian. He struggled with Upamecano, made space and without having to look at the goal, hit the ball over Neuer, who was punished for his habit of always being outside the area.

To round off the night, with Bayern hanging on the crossbar in the last minute, Dibu saved a Kane header that would have been 1-1 and gave the three points to the Villains, who have won both games in this group stage .

Draw Martínez, a figure of Aston Villa in the first rounds of the Champions League.

The joy of Dibu Martínez after Aston Villa’s success in the Champions League

“It’s incredible, it was the dream since I arrived at the club,” Martínez said on TNT Sports about playing in the Champions League, an achievement for the Birmingham club, which had not been in this competition since 1981.

The Argentine goalkeeper prevented Bayern from equalizing in the last minute, with a header from Kane that was going for a goal.

“With Kane you know he’s always going to score. We were very committed in defense, because we had conceded silly goals in the Premier and we needed balance. This has been a blow to the table.”

Regarding Durán, who has scored five goals off the bench this season, Dibu said: “He is at his best, he has come this season with a different mentality, working very hard. He is an incredible substitute. The first time he has touched the ball has marked one of the best in history.”