1982 Super Cup: Villa victorious in Europe

Barcelona 1-0 Aston Villa
(Alonso 52)

Aston Villa 3-0 Barcelona (aet)
(Shaw 80, Cowans 100, McNaught 104)
Villa win 3-1 on aggregate

The 1981 UEFA Super Cup final was to be a no-show, as European Champion Clubs' Cup winners Liverpool could not decide a convenient date to meet 1981 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners Dinamo Tbilisi – then of the Soviet Union, now of the independent republic of Georgia.

Another English side, Aston Villa, were to steal Liverpool's European crown in 1982, with Peter Withe's goal overcoming Bayern München in the final. A 2-1 win against R. Standard de Liège in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup saw Barcelona join the Birmingham-based side in the Super Cup final.

Once more, what should have been the 1982 final spilled over into the following year, with the game not kicking off until 19 January 1983. Udo Lattek's side got off to a decent start at the Camp Nou in the first leg with Marcos Alonso scoring the only goal of the game after 52 minutes.

However, the Catalan side were to lose out in the second leg, when a Gary Shaw goal ten minutes from time at Villa Park sent the game into added time on 26 January. Gordon Cowans then gave Villa the lead from the penalty spot after 100 minutes before Kenneth McNaught completed the scoring four minutes later.

A 3-1 aggregate win saw Villa pick up their second European trophy as coach Tony Barton – who had replaced Ron Saunders midway through the season with Villa failing to maintain the form that had won them the 1980/81 English title – reached their pinnacle in European football. That victory was also to mark the end of a long period of English dominance in Europe.