Fans reckon Aston Villa were trolling Arsenal by showcasing a piece of silverware ahead of their Premier League meeting.
As part of a behind-the-scenes revamp at Villa Park, the home side dusted off their version of the European Cup and placed it in the tunnel area, with visiting players forced to walk past it. Villa famously won the trophy for the one of only time in 1982, when they defeated Bayern Munich in Rotterdam.
Villa’s decision to honour the greatest moment in their history may have been a homage to the fact they will be playing Champions League having finished fourth last season. However, some fans reckon it was an attempt to get under the skin of Arsenal, who have never won the European Cup/Champions League, with their final defeat to Barcelona in 2006 the closest they have come to landing the biggest trophy in club football.
After footage of the famous trophy was shared by Villa’s social media channels, one fan posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Doing this for a game against Arsenal is such a p***-take.”
Another hailed: “Displaying ur UCL is sooo nasty... keep up the good work!” A third added: “Displaying your UCL like this because you play Arsenal today is a new level of hatred.”
A fourth quipped: “Would be so funny if every club that has won the UCL do this when they play Arsenal.” Another said: “Omdsssss. Showing them the UCL trophy. Villa are very very petty.” A sixth joked: “Doing this against Arsenal is top banter.”
However, it was the Gunners who were laughing as they left Villa Park with a 2-0 victory to continue their 100% winning start to the season. Leandro Trossard, who scored with his first touch after coming on midway through the second half, and Thomas Partey were the scorers.
“Today we found a way to win because the team showed personality and understood the game better and better apart from those 25 minutes in the second half,” said Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.
“When we needed to rely on certain individuals, we did like when David [Raya] made a good save and when we made the changes, the impact it had was tremendous. When a team starts to be equipped that way and navigates different situations in the match it becomes a team that can win in any place.”
Defeat for Aston Villa meant Unai Emery lost to his former employers for just the second time in his career. The former Gunners boss bemoaned his side’s missed chances but was happy with the way Villa competed against a team he feels will be in contention to win the title.