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Platini, Rossi and Boniek: The night star-studded Juventus put Aston Villa to the sword

Aston Villa and Juventus' players before their European Cup quarter-final first leg

Juventus captain and World Cup-winning goalkeeper Dino Zoff leads his team out at Villa Park in the 1983 European Cup quarter-final first leg

In 60 years of going to Villa Park — roughly half of which were spent as Aston Villa secretary and a director of the club — one team-sheet in particular sticks in the mind of Steve Stride.

“That Juventus team in 1983, I don’t think in the history of the club there’s been a more star-studded team at Villa Park,” said 73-year-old Stride, who attended his first Villa game aged nine.

Six of the Italy team that had started and won the World Cup final the previous year — Dino Zoff, Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardelli, Gaetano Scirea, Claudio Gentile and Antonio Cabrini — visited Villa Park on March 2, 1983, for the first leg of a European Cup quarter-final.

Also in the Juventus team, managed by the legendary Giovanni Trapattoni, were the world’s best player at the time, Michel Platini and Zbigniew Boniek, who was known as the “Polish Pele”.

Boniek, the great moustachioed attacking midfielder, crossed the Iron Curtain to sign for Juventus in 1982. Speaking to Telegraph Sport, the 68-year-old said: “I had a lot of fun with this comparison, but I was never the Polish Pele, I was simply Zibi Boniek. I’m happy that still today, when I walk around, there are people who want to take a selfie with me. It means that I did my job well and I left a mark in the memory of the fans. But let’s leave the great Pele alone!”

The match, more than 41 years ago, was the last time Villa Park hosted European Cup football before the club qualified for this season’s Champions League, in which they will entertain Juventus again on Wednesday night.

Villa were reigning European Champions in 1983, with players such as Peter Withe, Gordon Cowans, Gary Shaw and Tony Morley. But the star appeal of Juventus was unrivalled in world football.

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“We were pretty naive in those days, we didn’t know many of the players in Europe,” said Andy Blair, who started for Villa against Juventus, having been a substitute in the European Cup final. “But with that Juventus side, we knew all the players and we knew exactly what we’d be up against. It was billed as Aston Villa versus Italy, with a bit of Platini and Boniek thrown in for good measure.”

Stride added: “I saw Santos with Pele at Villa Park, I’ve seen Barcelona and Johan Cruyff at Villa Park, I’ve seen all these games. But that Juventus game, it’s just unbelievable when you look at the team.”

Told of Stride’s assessment, Boniek said: “I’m very happy that Aston Villa fans believe that Juve side were one of the strongest sides they have seen at Villa Park. I must say that I’m also convinced that it was the strongest team I played with in my career.”

By coincidence, Boniek, who is now vice-president of Uefa, is in England for Wednesday’s match and for the visit of another of his former clubs, Roma, to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League the following night.

Boniek said: “I will be in London, but I still haven’t decided if I will go to Birmingham to see the game at the stadium or if I will watch it on TV at my daughter’s place.”

Blair and Stride will be at the stadium on Wednesday night, when memories of the 1983 match will come flooding back, not all of them good.

Villa lost the home leg 2-1 to goals from Rossi and Boniek, either side of a Cowans equaliser. Blair, a former midfielder, said: “I still blame myself for their first goal. It was a cross and a Rossi header. The problem came from their left side. I was tracking a player and there was a mix-up with Gary Williams and me. It was my fault.

“I also had a good opportunity in the first half and I blazed it over the bar. I remember it all very well, but not with great fondness because I didn’t have a good game.”

Boniek, whose winning goal came from a wonderful Platini pass with the outside of his foot, said: “I remember my goal clearly, the pass from Michel, we did a great job. Michel always found you with millimetric precision if you were doing the right thing. He was fantastic as a player and was a great friend too.

Zbigniew Boniek scoring for Juventus against Aston Villa in the 1983 European Cup

Zbigniew Boniek scored the winning goal for Juventus in the first leg at Villa Park

“Playing against a line of four was quite nice for me. I faked to move towards Michel, then I turned, and he gave me the ball in the space that was created. I was quite fast and able to score. I remember this was the first victory by an Italian side in England in the European Cup.

“I must say that I loved to play against English sides. I don’t know why, but I was almost always scoring against them. I still like the atmosphere of English football.

“I remember the goals I scored against Aston Villa and against Liverpool in the Super Cup very well. Also, with my Polish side, Widzew Łódź, we defeated Manchester City and Manchester United. I scored twice in one of those games.”

Platini won the Ballon d’Or in 1983, ’84 and **’**85. Blair remains unsure to this day how he got close enough to the Frenchman to be photographed.

“I’ve got a couple of the pictures of myself and Platini — I always seem to be looking over his shoulder,” Blair said. “It must have been a very good photographer because that’s probably the closest I got to him all night!”

Aston Villa's Andy Blair up against Juventus playmaker Michel Platini

Andy Blair (left) tries to get close to Michel Platini, winner of three consecutive Ballon d’Ors between 1983 and 1985

The pictures of him and Platini are the only mementos Blair and Stride have got from the night. “I used to slip my programme into the changing rooms to get some autographs and I’ve got some great ones — the entire Barcelona team, including Cruyff — but I didn’t do it for the Juventus game. God knows why,” said Stride.

Blair, who is now 64, said: “In those days, you didn’t really swap shirts in the same way players do these days. Let’s not forget we were reigning European champions as well.”

The late Tony Barton, Villa’s understated former manager and perhaps the least famous manager ever to lead a team to European glory, was not the type to make special plans for the opposition.

“I remember ahead of the second leg in Turin, Liam Brady visited us,” said Blair. “He was playing in Italy at Sampdoria and he actually came on our minibus with us to the ground. He said, ‘What’s the game plan for tonight?’ Eamonn Deacy [a left-back who joined Villa from Galway Rovers] said, ‘Plan, plan? We don’t even know the team.’

“That summed it up really, Tony trusted the players to do what we always did. I don’t remember him mentioning Platini or anybody else ahead of the game at Villa Park. We prepared for every game in the same way, whether it was Juventus, Bayern Munich, Barnsley or Bristol Rovers.”

Villa’s first-leg equaliser came courtesy of a brilliant header from Cowans, whom Blair believes would have been at home playing alongside Platini and the rest of the Juventus stars.

Gordon Cowans playing for Aston Villa against Juventus in the 1982 European Cup

Gordon Cowans drives forward during the first leg against Juventus at Villa Park

“I don’t remember Gordon scoring too many headers, so that one was probably a bit of a collector’s item,” said Blair. “But Gordon was, without doubt, the best player I ever played with. What a player. What a man. Absolutely tremendous. He could hold his own with anyone in that Juventus team. Gordon was on their level, definitely. He was world class.”

Cowans would go on to play for three seasons in Italy at Bari and his goal for Villa against Juventus stuck in the memory of Boniek, who said: “We were fully aware of how English teams played. Four at the back, with two centre-backs who were really strong physically, a big striker, strong in the air. Lots of strong players who could handle the ball well. So much so that finally they scored a goal with a beautiful header.”

Juventus lost in the final in 1983 before winning the European Cup two years later. Boniek was among eight Juventus players from the Villa Park match who went on to start the 1985 final against Liverpool. The Italians, still managed by Trapattoni, won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Platini. The game, however, was overshadowed by the tragic Heysel Stadium disaster in which 39 fans died.

“We were unfortunate in the final against Hamburg,” said Boniek. “Then we won it in 1985 in that tragic game at Heysel. We could have won more. It was a very strong side, but we could have won more.”

On this year’s Villa Park rerun, Boniek picked out the reason he believes it cannot live up to the 1983 game. “Good luck to both teams and may the best side win,” said Boniek. “But Wednesday night’s match can’t be compared with the one in 1983 for the simple reason that, in 1983, only domestic league champions were playing in the European Cup and it was a knockout competition. The atmosphere and the tension was totally different.”

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