Game #4676
Thursday, 20 September 2001
Attendance: 27,132
Lost
UEFA Cup 1st Round
1st Round
Varteks Varaždin
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟥
Villa Park
After all their hard and early season work Villa lose in the home leg of the UEFA Cup 1st Round to leave them with it all do in Croatia.
Aston Villa
2-3
Varteks Varaždin
Assist(s) | Steve Stone | 53' | Hassan Kachloul | 68' |
KEY MAN
Juan Pablo Ángel celebrates his brace in the UEFA Cup but Varteks hit three at Villa Park to leave it all to do in Croatia, Thursday, 20 September 2001.
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
🥅 | 43’ Goal, 0-1, (Varteks Varaždin), Sasa Bjelanovic
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-1 Varteks Varaždin
⚽ | 53’ Goal, 1-1, Juan Pablo Ángel, Assist by Steve Stone
🥅 | 63’ Goal, 1-2, (Varteks Varaždin), Veldin Karic
🔁 | 64’ Sub off, Steve Stone, Sub on, David Ginola
⚽ | 68’ Goal, 2-2, Juan Pablo Ángel, Assist by Hassan Kachloul
🔁 | 75’ Sub off, Hassan Kachloul, Sub on, Gareth Barry
🟨 | 82’ Booking, Juan Pablo Ángel
🥅 | 85’ Goal, 2-3, (Varteks Varaždin), Sasa Bjelanovic
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 2-3 Varteks Varaždin
ON THIS DAY
Despite a brace from Juan Pablo Ángel, Villa concede three away goals to Varteks Varaždin placing their UEFA Cup progress in the balance.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Varteks Varaždin
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
Croatian Champions: ❌
Croatian Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: ❌
FIXTURE HISTORY
Varteks Varaždin
Previous 5 vs. Varteks: None
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2001-02 |
Matchday | #11 |
Manager Game | #167 |
Thursday, 20 September 2001
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: John Gregory | 🏴 | Scunthorpe, 1998-2002
Referee: Paulo Costa | 🇵🇹 | Porto, 1995-2010
Kick off: 7.45pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-1
FT Score: 🟥 2-3
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟥
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Paulo Costa | 🇵🇹 | Porto, 1995-2010
Previous 5: None
Last Match: None
Cards: 🟨
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
Villa recall Juan Pablo Ángel, Mustapha Hadji and Steve Stone as Paul Merson, Lee Hendrie and Dion Dublin drop out.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 27.95 |
Oldest Player |
GK Peter Schmeichel | 🇩🇰 | 37.87 |
Youngest Player |
F Darius Vassell | 🏴 | 21.28 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
John Gregory | 🏴 |
Branko Janžek | 🇭🇷 |
Aston Villa
GK Peter Schmeichel | 🇩🇰 |
LB Alan Wright | 🏴 |
CB Olof Mellberg | 🇸🇪 |
CB Alpay Özalan | 🇹🇷 |
RB Mark Delaney | 🏴 |
M George Boateng | 🇳🇱 |
M Hassan Kachloul | 🇲🇦 | 🔥 | 🔁 |
M Steve Stone | 🏴 | 🔥 | 🔁 |
M Mustapha Hadji | 🇲🇦 |
CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 | ⚽ | ⚽ | 🟨 |
F Darius Vassell | 🏴 |
Varteks Varaždin
GK Danijel Mađarić | 🇭🇷 |
LB Danijel Hrman | 🇭🇷 | 🔁 |
CB Matjia Kristić | 🇭🇷 |
CB Zoran Kastel | 🇭🇷 |
RB Goran Granić | 🇭🇷 |
M Miljenko Mumlek | 🇭🇷 |
M Denis Mukaj | 🇦🇱 |
M Ivan Režić | 🇭🇷 |
W Silvester Sabolčki | 🇭🇷 |
CF Veldin Karic | 🇭🇷 | ⚽ |
CF Sasa Bjelanovic | 🇭🇷 | ⚽ | ⚽ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 W David Ginola | 🇫🇷 | for M Steve Stone | 🏴 | 64’ |
🔁 M Gareth Barry | 🏴 | for M Hassan Kachloul | 🇲🇦 | 75’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | LB Danijel Hrman | 🇭🇷 | (LB Andrija Balajić | 🇭🇷 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Peter Enckelman | 🇫🇮 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 |
F Boško Balaban | 🇭🇷 |
F Stefan Moore | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Zeljko Rumbak | 🇭🇷 |
CB Antun Andričević | 🇭🇷 |
D Goran Borovic | 🇭🇷 |
M Hrvoje Sklepic | 🇭🇷 |
M Nikola Safaric | 🇭🇷 |
CF Oskar Drobne | 🇸🇮
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 4/11
Homegrown: 1/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 7/18
Homegrown: 4/18
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🇭🇷 : 10/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🇭🇷 : 16/18
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 live and die by my decisions and I stand by my team selection.”
John Gregory.
*BBC Sport*
Thursday, 20 September, 2001
*Varteks stun Villa*
Aston Villa’s Uefa Cup hopes were dealt a huge blow after they were beaten by an incisive Varteks side at Villa Park.
Villa twice fought back to equalise with goals from Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel.
But they had no answer when Sasa Bjelanovic grabbed the winner four minutes from time.
It was Bjelanovic’s second goal of the night and he was the star for an impressive visiting side.
Villa boss John Gregory chose to rest three of his first-team regulars for the game.
Paul Merson, Lee Hendrie and Dion Dublin were not even selected on the bench and Steve Stone, Mustapha Hadji and Juan Pablo Angel came into Villa’s starting line-up.
The decision looked to have backfired during a first half in which Villa were bereft of either ideas or imagination.
The only Villa player who looked a threat was the in-form Darius Vassell.
The England Under-21 striker had Villa’s best chance of the period after half-an-hour, when he met Kachloul’s cross first time, only to see his effort excellently saved by Danijel Mandaric.
This was a rare opportunity for Villa and the sparse crowd became increasingly impatient as the half wore on.
Boos were echoing round Villa Park on the stroke of half-time when the visitors took the lead.
Devi Mukaj strode forward confidently before slipping a beautiful pass to Sasa Bjelanovic.
The striker got ahead of the home defence before putting the ball through Peter Schmeichel’s legs from 10 yards out.
Villa had far more purpose after the interval and equalised after only nine minutes of the restart.
Kachloul sent in an excellent cross from the left and Stone collected in the far corner of the box.
He fired a wayward right-footed shot but Angel was on had on the edge of the six yard box to steer the ball home with a first-time effort.
But Villa’s parity lasted only 10 minutes. Zoran Kastel picked up the ball 25 yards from Villa’s goal and advanced to the edge of the area before feeding Veldin Karic.
The long-haired striker took a good touch before poking the ball past Schmeichel.
Angel came to Villa’s rescue again 20 minutes from time when he headed an excellent Kachloul cross home from close range.
Yet it was Varteks who again had the last laugh, with the combination of Mukaj and Bjenanovic again decisive.
Mukaj sent in a delicate cross from the left and Bjelanovic slid in to neatly slot home.