Game #4330
Thursday, 15 September 1994
Attendance: 22,639
Lost
UEFA Cup 1st Round
1st Round
Inter Milan
Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟥
San Siro
Villa suffer a narrow defeat in the UEFA Cup 1st Round at the San Siro to a disputed Dennis Bergkamp penalty as John Fashanu shocks the Italians with his centre circle kung-fu warm up.
Inter Milan
1-0
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | None
KEY MAN
Ugo Ehiogu, growing in stature with every match
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
🕒 | HT Inter Milan 0-0 Aston Villa
🥅 | 76’ Goal, 0-1, (Inter Milan, pen), Dennis Bergkamp
🔁 | 79’ Sub off, John Fashanu, Sub on, Ray Houghton
🕒 | FT Inter Milan 1-0 Aston Villa
🟨 | Booking, Ugo Ehiogu, Foul
ON THIS DAY
Villa suffer a narrow defeat at the San Siro after Denis Bergkamp converts a penalty.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1993-94
Inter Milan
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆🏆
UEFA Cup / Europa League Winners: 🏆🏆
Serie A Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
Coppa Italia Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1993-94
FIXTURE HISTORY
Inter Milan
Previous 5 vs. Inter: 🟩 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1994-95 |
Matchday | #6 |
Manager Game | #165 |
Thursday, 15 September 1994
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Ron Atkinson | 🏴 | Liverpool, 1991-1994
Referee: Peter Mikkelsen | 🇩🇰 | Amager, 1986–1996
Kick off: 7.30pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Score: 🟥 0-1
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟥
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Peter Mikkelsen | 🇩🇰 | Amager, 1986–1996
Previous 5: 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 29 September 1993, UEFA Cup, Villa 2-1 Slovan, Villa Park.
Cards: 🟨
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
Dalian Atkinson replaces Dwight Yorke in the starting XI
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 29.49 |
Oldest Player |
GK Nigel Spink | 🏴 | 36.13 |
Youngest Player |
CB Ugo Ehiogu | 🏴 | 21.88 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Ron Atkinson | 🏴 |
Ottavio Bianchi | 🇮🇹 |
Aston Villa
GK Nigel Spink | 🏴 |
LB Phil King | 🏴 |
RB Earl Barrett | 🏴 |
CB Ugo Ehiogu | 🏴 | 🟨 |
CB Paul McGrath | 🇮🇪 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
M Kevin Richardson | 🏴 |
M Andy Townsend | 🇮🇪 |
CF John Fashanu | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CF Dean Saunders | 🏴 |
CF Dalian Atkinson | 🏴 |
Inter Milan
GK Gianluca Pagliuca | 🇮🇹 |
CB Mirko Conte | 🇮🇹 |
CB Giovanni Bia | 🇮🇹 | 🔁 |
RB Giuseppe Bergomi | 🇮🇹 |
RB Gianluca Festa | 🇮🇹 |
M Andrea Seno | 🇮🇹 |
M Wim Jonk | 🇳🇱 |
M Nicola Berti | 🇮🇹 |
W Alessandro Bianchi | 🇮🇹 |
F Dennis Bergkamp | 🇳🇱 | ⚽ |
CF Rubén Sosa | 🇺🇾 | 🔁 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | M Ray Houghton | 🇮🇪 | for CF John Fashanu | 🏴 | 79' |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | CB Giovanni Bia | 🇮🇹 | (CB Massimo Paganin | 🇮🇹 |)
🔁 | CF Rubén Sosa | 🇺🇾 | (CF Marco Delvecchio | 🇮🇹 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Michael Oakes | 🏴 |
CB Shaun Teale | 🏴 |
M Garry Parker | 🏴 |
W Peter Whittingham | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Luca Mondini | 🇮🇹 |
M Marco Barollo | 🇮🇹 |
M Antonio Manicone | 🇮🇹 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 8/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 12/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🇮🇹 : 8/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🇮🇹 : 13/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Abbreviations:
GK : Goalkeeper
LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back
CB, D : Centre Back, Defender
M, W : Midfielder. Winger
F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
TABLE
PROGRAMME



MATCHDAY QUOTES
"I thought we were very unfortunate.
“We all felt Nigel [Spink] got a finger to the ball first.
“They had two penalty appeals earlier and they were never penalties.
"You know when you come to places like these that there are going to be a few players who like taking a tumble. I will have a look at the video but I thought it was a fair challenge
"I was worried when Ugo was booked, but he handled it well. I can't think of another situation where he was in danger of a second caution."
Ron Atkinson.
"It's only half-time. Now we have to do the business at Villa Park.
"If the fans make It hostile for Inter, I'm sure we can get two goals."
"It was nice to play in such a superb stadium.
”It was Just a pity we lost the way we did.
"It was unfortunate to give away a penalty, but I thought the referee had a great game.
"Inter tried to get two penalties earlier on, and he didn't give them.
“It's just a pity he gave the one he did, because all the lads are convinced there was no foul.
"We came to try and take the game to them as often as we could.
“At times we had to defend a lot, but I though we did it well.
"We battled well, and the longer the game went on, you couldn't see them scoring."
Kevin Richardson.
"I was a bit nervous for the first 10 or 15 minutes, and that's probably what led to me being booked.
”I went into the tackle with my left foot - my weaker one.
“If it had been later in the game, I would have used my right, and cleaned up the situation.
"I found it a bit difficult getting my second wind, but I couldn't see Inter scoring until that penalty.
"I though that if we kept on our toes, we might be able to nick a goal.
“It was a bit frustrating, because we had a few chances.
“But at home, with a full house behind us, we will give it a real go.
"The game was a big experience for me, particularly having to face Bergkamp and Sosa.
"But if I play in the second leg, I know now what they are capable of and what to expect."
Ugo Ehiogu.
"We may have won this one, but we have the same chance of going through as we had before the game.
“There's still everything to play for. Even if it had been 0.0, Villa would still have had to score at home to win the tie, and that's something they still need to do.
"I just wish we could have avoided such a difficult match until later in the competition.
"Villa are a strong team, and we would rather have played them in the semi-finals."
Inter manager Ottavio Bianchi
"There was no physical contact between myself and the gentleman who fell over [Ruben Sosa].
"I made my feelings known to him after the game and he didn't disagree with me.
"We would have settled for this result before the game, but when the penalty came along, it was very disappointing."
Nigel Spink.
*Birmingham Evening Mail*
Friday, 16 September 1994
Penalty fury in night of pride
ONE fateful moment of indecision took the edge off Villa's impressive UEFA Cup launch last night but left us with a first round tie which is intriguingly balanced.
Ron Atkinson's men emerged from a daunting visit to one of world football's most intimidating arenas with heads held high, optimistic of overturning a single-goal deficit in two weeks' time.
Only a controversial penalty 15 minutes from time denied them the opportunity of starting on level terms in the eagerly-awaited second leg at Villa Park.
Dutch star Dennis Bergkamp despatched his spot kick firmly past Nigel Spink but the goalkeeper is probably still arguing about the validity of the spot kick award.
Spink hotly disputed referee Peter Mikkelsen's judgement that he had hauled down Ruben Sosa as the Uruguayan striker darted into the penalty area.
Regardless of the apparent injustice of the decision, though, it was all the more annoying because Sosa was moving away from goal at the time and Spink's hesitancy meant he got to the ball a fraction too late.
Although the experienced keeper did well to hold a first half Bergkamp drive and push aside a skidding last minute drive from the former Ajax man.
Paul McGrath, magnificent as ever, never put a foot wrong at the heart of the defence.
And the Irishman's pivotal partner Ugo Ehiogu, growing in stature with every match, enjoyed a European debut which will long live in the memories of Villa's 1,000 travelling fans.
The England under-21 international, booked after just five minutes for a lunge at Bergkamp. stuck resolutely to his task and refused to he knocked out of his stride by that potentially catastrophic setback.
Ehiogu had one other awkward moment, Inter appealing strongly for a penalty when he collided with midfield danger man Nicola Berti after an hour.
A packed San Siro crowd may well have swayed the referee to point to the spot on that one. But with fewer than 23,000 in the ground, and most of Inter's vociferous fans seated at the other end, the moment passed with little more than a token appeal.
Inter, to be fair, really had Atkinson's boys on the ropes during a sustained spell of pressure after the break.
Villa's back four, though, rose to the challenge in considerable style, full-backs King and Earl Barrett proving equally as stubborn as their central counterparts.
It was Inter's Italian international Gianluca Pagliuca who had to make the two best saves of the match. Pagliuca, fresh from Sampdoria this summer, reacted instinctively to turn aside Staunton's 28th minute piledriver after an inviting John Fashanu lay-off.
And when the busy, hustling Dean Saunders shrugged off Gianluca Festa's challenge nine minutes from time. Pagliuca produced an even more spectacular leap to push the Welsh wizard's fierce shot for a corner.
Barrett was also close near the end, only just failing to make proper contact with a header when Staunton's freekick found him right in front of goal.
If the Italians are equally uninhibited in the return at Villa Park and Atkinson's side can rise to the occasion - it should be a night to remember, whatever the outcome.