Aston Villa lifted the European Cup on this day in 1982 after beating Bayern Munich 1-0 at the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam.
Peter Withe struck the decisive blow after 67 minutes, turning home a Tony Morley cross to secure the club’s first European trophy and spark jubilant scenes among the travelling support.
Villa’s victory owed much to the endeavours of young goalkeeper Nigel Spink, who thwarted the German side time and time again after replacing the injured Jimmy Rimmer after nine minutes.
Captain Dennis Mortimer picked up the famous trophy as Villa were crowned Kings of Europe.
The night got off to the worst possible start for Villa when No1 Rimmer, who had missed only one match in five years at the club, left the field in the tenth minute with a neck injury.
His replacement Spink had made only one senior appearance for the club after joining from Chelmsford City, and he was thrown into the fire against a high-quality Munich strikeforce.
Bernd Dürnberger was the first to test out the rookie ‘keeper before Spink denied Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
The chances kept coming for the team in red as they handled the occasion better than their English counterparts, with Dürnberger denied by Spink once again early in the second half.
But with 69 minutes on the clock, Villa took the lead on the back of a classy team goal.
Gary Shaw cut inside from the left and fed Morley, who turned his marker inside and out before putting the ball on a plate for Withe at the far post. The ball hit the winger’s shin and bounced in off the post to send the Villa fans delirious.
Villa put their bodies on the line to defend their lead and they were relieved to see Dieter Hoeneß’ goal disallowed for offside in the latter stages.
It was the closest Bayern would come to breaching Villa’s backline as Tony Barton’s team, which had been built by Ron Saunders before him, took home the trophy.
Barton said: “The young goalkeeper [Nigel Spink] was magnificent and everyone was tremendous.
“We lived a bit dangerously at times but in the end we won it for Aston Villa, for Birmingham, for England and for Great Britain.
“It was certainly the most important day in the history of the club.”
Spink said: “Obviously I was a bit nervous when Jimmy Rimmer had to come off after just nine minutes, but I’m glad to say things went really well for me.
“I still don’t believe it.
“I have played in only two matches and here I am with a European Cup winners’ medal.”
