Villa 2 Barcelona 2 1978

[WarszaVillan]

I've never seen any clips of the first leg of the Super Cup at the Nou Camp. I remember listening to it on the radio and being pleased with a 1-0 loss.

[Damo70]

I don't think I ever have either and one or two others on here have said the same. There must have been TV cameras there though.

[Pat McMahon]

I was at this game, but I was only 7 so sadly remember nothing of it. If I could I wonder if that Barcelona side would replace Juventus '83 as the best side i've seen at VP? Or even Spartak Moscow in second place in the foreign sides at VP.

PWS that Juve team were different class to Barca. They had a good chunk of the 1982 World Cup winning team plus Platini and Boniek and completely mastered us. They had a colossus of a centre half called Sergio Brio whose sole responsibility was to maul and batter Peter Withe. I don't think either touched the ball all night and I bet Brio ever played again - he wasn't exactly blessed with finesse. They seemed to have brought him out of an abattoir just for the evening.

The Cruyff Barca game was tough, but Allan Evans terrorised them for 10 minutes and we sneaked a draw. Juventus would have broken his nose twice and mysteriously been nowhere within 10 yards of him.

[the-farmer]

I was there, but unfortunately only being 10 at the time I don't remember much about it
Thanks for posting it.

[dave shelley]

I remember getting back to the pub afterwards and couldn't believe the amount of them that had left before the final whistle and didn't know we'd drawn the match.

The abiding memory for me though was the Cruyff performance and the standing ovation he deservedly received when he was substituted.  Both were magnificent.

[Dave Cooper please]

 They had a colossus of a centre half called Sergio Brio whose sole responsibility was to maul and batter Peter Withe. I don't think either touched the ball all night and I bet Brio ever played again - he wasn't exactly blessed with finesse. They seemed to have brought him out of an abattoir just for the evening.

You do Sergio Brio a misjustice. He played nearly 400 times for Juve and is one of only a very small handful of players to have won every International Club competition.

[Damo70]

 They had a colossus of a centre half called Sergio Brio whose sole responsibility was to maul and batter Peter Withe. I don't think either touched the ball all night and I bet Brio ever played again - he wasn't exactly blessed with finesse. They seemed to have brought him out of an abattoir just for the evening.

You do Sergio Brio a misjustice. He played nearly 400 times for Juve and is one of only a very small handful of players to have won every International Club competition.

I don't know if Brio went on to play for Italy but I seem to remember that when we played them he was the only one of the starting eleven who wasn't a full international.

[Broughty-Villian]

my first ever night game.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Best performance by an opposition player at Villa Park - by a country mile.

He was all over the pitch - helping his defence, controlling midfield, and scoring. Totally out classed all the other players on the field.

Better than Kinsella when he was at Charlton then?

[Damo70]

Best performance by an opposition player at Villa Park - by a country mile.

He was all over the pitch - helping his defence, controlling midfield, and scoring. Totally out classed all the other players on the field.

Better than Kinsella when he was at Charlton then?

I remember Tony Woodcock having at half decent game at VP about thirty years ago.

[SteveN]

Best performance by an opposition player at Villa Park - by a country mile.

He was all over the pitch - helping his defence, controlling midfield, and scoring. Totally out classed all the other players on the field.

This subject has come up before on H&V and like many of the older generation I agree that Cruyff was by far the best player I have ever seen at Villa Park.  In my view one of the greatest players ever.  There was something about him that I have not seen in any other player, the ability to dominate games and those around him.  Maradonna did it on his own, but Cruyff brought the best out of others in his team.

That Barcelona team were not that great, but he was, the Juventus team were far stronger and probably the best I've seen at Villa Park.  The Celta Vigo team that ripped us apart at the Hawthorns wer not too shabby either.

[Damo70]

The Liverpool side from around '81 to '84 put in some very impressive team performances at VP too. Against a Villa team that was still pretty strong at the time.