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Aston Villa hero earns Manuel Neuer praise as Bayern Munich icon says he did ‘very well’
It was a tale of two goalkeepers as Aston Villa ran it back to 1982 and defeated Champions League challengers Bayern Munich on a thrilling Wednesday night in Birmingham.
Unai Emery was only just starting secondary school when Peter Withe fired that famous winner past the German giants to claim Aston Villa’s only European trophy 42 years ago.
And while there might not have been a trophy on the line four decades later – Bayern Munich very fitting opponents on Aston Villa’s top-of-the-continent homecoming – the feeling which soared around Villa Park as Jhon Duran lobbed Manuel Neuer was as sweet as any champagne.
The kid from Colombia is making quite the habit of this.
But, with all due respect to Aston Villa and Everton, Duran’s previous supersub heroics pale into relative insignificance compared to this.
Beating a legendary goalkeeper with a finish so audacious, so prestigious, this will forever be mentioned in the same breath the most iconic strikes in Villa’s storied history.
Manuel Neuer pays Jhon Duran tribute after Aston Villa win
As Emiliano Martinez pulled off two genuinely world-class stops to deny Michael Olise and Harry Kane at the death, Neuer found himself fronting up to the cameras following the first Bayern defeat of the otherwise faultless Vincent Kompany reign.
And Neuer, while hailing the quality of Duran’s finish, was keen to point out that concessions like this are just part of the risk when you play under a coach determined to press high and operate a ‘sweeper-keeper’ system.
“[Duran] hit it very well,” Neuer told reporters at full-time. “Maybe I could have stood two metres further back, but it would have been questionable whether I could have made it there [to keep the shot out].
“I don’t know whether the coach will ask for something different but, fundamentally, that’s our game. The coach wants it that way too.
“Anyone who has seen all of our games knows that I play like that in every game. That is our game. That is very valuable when we have the ball and also when we are not in possession of it.”
Remarkably, Duran has started only one game in all competitions this season.
The former Chicago Fire starlet already has six goals to his name, however, with Martinez’s outstanding reflexes at the other end ensuring that Duran would have another winner to add to his enviable collection.
Former captain Gabby Agbonlahor expected Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers to make the difference on the night. Perhaps, given Duran’s habit of popping up at precisely the right time, the identity of Villa’s eventual matchwinner should come as no real surprise.
Joshua Kimmich defends Bayern Munich goalkeeper Neuer
“Going forward, even if not everything was perfect, we had some very good chances,” Bayern stalwart Joshua Kimmich said during his own post-match discussion. “There weren’t that many, but the ones we had were 100 per cent [goalscoring chances]
“If we have such quality chances, then I’m not entirely dissatisfied with how we created them. There were a few things that could have led to goals.”
Kimmich was also quick to defend Neuer for his role in Duran’s 79th minute decider, highlighting the way he shut down an earlier Villa counter-attack with an interception midway into his own half.
“Manu generally stands a little high. He prevented us from having an outstanding chance in the first half,” Kimmich argues. “We often benefit from Manu standing high, so we don’t blame him for that
After Aston Villa hammered BSC Young Boys 3-0 in matchday one, Emery’s team now have two wins from two to kick off their maiden Champions League campaign.