Why romance of Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest’s European tie is an antidote to modern football
Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa face off this week and next, both aiming to write another chapter in their rich European histories
On consecutive Thursdays, as East Midlands meets West, their past will be all around them. Nottingham Forest ’s City Ground is a monument to the architects of arguably the greatest story of them all in European football. There is the Brian Clough Stand and the Peter Taylor Stand, celebrating the double act who won two European Cups with a provincial club they inherited in the lower half of the second division.
Villa Park, meanwhile, is adorned with Brian Moore’s commentary of Peter Withe’s winner in the 1982 European Cup final. Withe unites Forest and Aston Villa . Part of the team Clough took first to promotion and then the First Division title, he was sold before their maiden European Cup campaign began.
Forest conquered the continent twice in succession, becoming the only club to win the European Cup twice as often as their domestic league title, and yet Withe’s fairytale was not finished. He went from Newcastle to Villa and, after top-scoring for a Forest team who won their inaugural league title, did so for a Villa side who won their first in 71 years. Villa finished 11th the following year.
They also beat Bayern Munich in the European Cup final. Withe struck. As Villa and Forest meet in the Europa League , there is a sense of history but also a very modern feel.
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