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Game #3482

Aston Villa

Wednesday, 15 March 1978

FC Barcelona

2-1

Aston Villa

UEFA Cup

Barcelona

Camp Nou

Attendance: 90,000

Lost

Quarter Final

Last 5: 🟥 🟨 🟨 🟥 🟥

Assist(s) | None

MATCH SUMMARY

Villa fight back against the odds, as reduced to ten men half way through the first half, they take the lead at the Camp Nou but Barcelona fight back to squeeze through to the UEFA Cup semi finals 3-4 on aggregate.

KEY MAN

2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif
2020-21 (h) Aston Villa Kit.gif
2021-22 Matchweek 38.jpg

Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.

MATCH TIMELINE

Wednesday, 15 March 1978

🟥 | 24’ Sending off, John Gidman, Retaliation
🕒 | HT Barcelona 0-0 Aston Villa
⚽ | 57’ Goal, 1-0, Brian Little
🥅 | 67’ Goal, 1-1, (Barcelona), Migueli
🥅 | 77’ Goal, 2-1, (Barcelona), Asensi
🕒 | FT Barcelona 2-1 Aston Villa

ON THIS DAY

Ron Saunders' Villa see John Gidman sent off again as they have to play nearly two thirds of the return leg at Camp Nou with ten men. Despite the setback, Villa take the lead but lose to two late Barcelona goals on the night and are knocked out of the UEFA Cup Quarter Finals on aggregate.

Aston Villa

League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1976-77

Barcelona

La Liga Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆
Copa del Rey Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1978-79

FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa Vs.

Barcelona

Previous 5 vs. Barcelona: 🟨

PREVIOUS MATCH

SUBSEQUENT MATCH

FIXTURE DETAILS

Villa.gif
2509-2.png

Season | 1977-78 |
Matchday | #41 |
Manager Game | #200 |
Wednesday, 15 March 1978

MATCH SUMMARY

Manager: Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Birkenhead, 1974-1982
Referee: Doğan Babacan | 🇹🇷 | Istanbul, 1968-1978
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
FT Score: 🟥 1-2
Aggregate Result: 🟥 Lost
Aggregate Score: 🟥 3-4
Last 5: 🟥 🟨 🟨 🟥 🟥

MANAGERIAL RECORD

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 200 | 🟩 | 93 🟨 | 51 🟥 56 | 1.65

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Doğan Babacan | 🇹🇷 | Istanbul, 1968-1978
Matches Officiated: 1
🟩 : 0
🟨 : 0
🟥 : 1
🆘 : 0
Previous 5: None
Last Match: None
Cards: 🟥

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

CARDS

🟥

Villa.gif

None

2509-2.png

TEAM NEWS

John Gregory and Gordon Cowans replace Tommy Craig and Allan Evans.

TEAM STATS

Starting XI Average Age
| 24.79 |

Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 30.11 |

Youngest Player |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 19.39 |

MANAGER

Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Villa.gif

Aston Villa

GK Jimmy Rimmer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB John Gidman | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🟥 |
CB Ken McNaught | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
FB Gordon Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M John Gregory | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Leighton Phillips | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 |
M Dennis Mortimer | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Frank Carrodus | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
F Brian Little | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
F John Deehan | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

MANAGER

Rinus Michels | 🇳🇱 |

2509-2.png

Barcelona

GK Pello Artola | 🇪🇸 |
RB Pepito Ramos | 🇪🇸 | 🔁 |
CB Migueli | 🇪🇸 | ⚽ |
CB Juanjo Enríquez | 🇪🇸 |
CB Antonio Olmo | 🇪🇸 |
RB Toño de la Cruz | 🇪🇸 |
M Johan Cruyff | 🇳🇱 |
M Juan Manuel Asensi | 🇪🇸 | ⚽ |
W Rafael Zuviría | 🇦🇷 |
W Paco Fortes | 🇪🇸 | 🔁 |
W Carles Rexach | 🇪🇸 |

SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

No Substitutions Made

SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

🔁 | RB Pepito Ramos | 🇪🇸 | (F Manolo Clares | 🇪🇸 |)
🔁 | W Paco Fortes | 🇪🇸 | (M Johan Neeskens | 🇳🇱 |)

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

Villa.gif

Not recorded

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

2509-2.png

Not Recorded

SQUAD STATS

Villa.gif

1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/11

SQUAD STATS

2509-2.png

1st XI:
Home Nation 🇪🇸 : 9/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🇪🇸 : 10/13

MATCHDAY SQUAD

Villa.gif

MATCHDAY SQUAD

2509-2.png

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Injury | 3 |
FB John Robson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Alex Cropley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CF Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

UNAVAILABLE

Villa.gif

Not Recorded

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

DEBUT APPEARANCES

FINAL APPEARANCES

MATCH STATS

Not recorded

MATCH QUOTES

"I do not agree with the sending off of John Gidman. “The Barcelona player elbowed him and Gidman retaliated but did not make contact. "Gidman has a lot of ability and we intended to use it in the space we knew would he free behind the left back. “But the first time he went on a run he clashed with de la Cruz and paid the penalty. "But I am proud of how my ten players conducted themselves on the night. “They were all magnificent and we can look to the future with confidence. We deserve to get a draw at least." Ron Saunders.

MATCH REPORT

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Reach PLC. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

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