1982 European Cup Final

Des Bremner, Dieter Hoeneß, Paul Breitner and Kenny Swain in action

It represented a huge success in his first season as manager for Tony Barton. He had only taken over as Villa boss before the quarter-finals after the shock resignation of Villa boss Ron Saunders.

One of the most memorable incidents of the final occurred after 10 minutes when veteran goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer suffered a repeat of a recurring shoulder injury. His replacement, Nigel Spink, subsequently made only his second first team appearance for the club. His performance in helping prevent Bayern from scoring throughout the match was subsequently highly praised, and is seen by many as the making of a player who would be Villa's first choice goalkeeper for the following 10 seasons.[1]

Also memorably Bayern Munich did find the net with three minutes of play remaining, although the goal was ruled offside. Villa also got the ball in the net for a second time a few seconds before the end of the match but this goal was also disallowed.

Brian Moore's commentary of the winning goal is displayed on a giant banner across the North Stand of Villa Park:

Shaw, Williams, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball in for Tony Morley. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Peter Withe.

As defending European champions Villa were invited into the European Cup, European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup for the following season. Their defence of the European Cup ended in a quarter-final defeat to a Michel Platini-inspired Juventus. They beat Barcelona 3–1 on aggregate to win the Super Cup, but lost 2–0 to Uruguayan club Peñarol for the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, Japan.