Perfect Aston Villa face Barcelona at Camp Nou tonight; a record awaits Yamal
Aston Villa have made a dream start in the Champions League with three wins from three matches. Now Barcelona stand in their way. The two sides meet at Spotify Camp Nou on Tuesday night (November 3). Unai Emery aims to keep the perfect run going, while Hansi Flick's Barcelona are desperate to bounce back after defeats to PSG and Real Madrid.
Villa sit second in the league phase with nine points from their first three matches. Barcelona are eighth with six points from three. The Catalans will want a return to winning ways in Europe after losing 4-2 to PSG in their last match. In between, they also lost El Clasico 2-1 to Real Madrid in La Liga. But a 6-1 thrashing of Alaves in the domestic league restored confidence, and that win was Flick's 100th in 131 matches as the club's coach.
Attention in Barcelona's attack will be on Lamine Yamal. He has 12 goals and 11 assists across all competitions this season. Yamal is now level with Kylian Mbappe for the most Champions League goals scored as a teenager, with 13 each. One more goal against Villa would give the Spanish youngster the record outright.
Villa, however, cannot be taken lightly. Emery's side have not only won three from three; their recent European record is outstanding, with wins in 14 of their last 16 European matches. They scored 10 goals in their first three Champions League matches, so the English club can give Barcelona's defence a hard test.
The match carries extra meaning for Emery. His coaching record against Barcelona in the Champions League is poor: just one win in six matches, with defeats in the other five. He returns to Camp Nou, a venue where one of his earlier experiences was a 6-1 defeat to Barcelona as PSG coach.
The two clubs also have an old European rivalry. In the 1977-78 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, Barcelona won 4-3 on aggregate. But Villa took the 1982 UEFA Super Cup 3-1 over two legs.
Barcelona's record at Camp Nou against English opponents is strong: they have not lost at home to an English club since 2007. Villa's record in Spain is weak by contrast: just one win in eight matches. The real battle will unfold between these two contrasting sets of statistics.
