Unai Emery has the opportunity to equal a Champions League record when Aston Villa square off against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.
In what is a repeat of the 1982 European Cup final between the two teams, Villa are bidding to start their first ever Champions League campaign with successive victories.
Last month, the Premier League outfit defied a slow start to run out 3-0 winners against Swiss side Young Boys, setting them up to welcome Bayern to the West Midlands full of confidence.
Although Villa have since been held by Ipswich Town in England's top flight, there is optimism ahead of playing their first home fixture at European football's top table since their quarter-final defeat to Juventus in 1983.
Villa will be bidding to become just the second English side since 1992-93 to win their opening two matches in the Champions League format, the other being Leicester City in 2016-17.
Getting another maximum points on the board will be Emery's priority, yet the Spaniard has the opportunity to equal a record that is currently held by Jose Mourinho.
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Matching Mourinho up for grabs
The Portuguese is currently the only manager to ever record victories over Bayern in the Champions League with three different teams, those clubs being Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
Emery has two successes over the Bundesliga giants to his name, back in 2017 when in charge of Bayern Munich and five years later when he was in the Villarreal dugout.
Both of those wins came in home fixtures without conceding a goal, although Bayern avoided defeat in the return fixtures back at the Allianz Arena.
Nevertheless, Emery's sides have always found the net when facing Bayern, and the chances appear high that the streak will continue on this occasion.
Villa have scored at least twice in seven of their eight matches in all competitions this season, only failing to find the back of the net when they lost 2-0 to Arsenal on August 24.
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What records are in Bayern's favour?
Bayern have just started a new era under Vincent Kompany where they have incredibly scored 30 goals in just seven games, with their 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday ending a six-match winning streak.
From a historical perspective, however, they have only suffered one defeat to English teams (Manchester City in 2023) in 10 outings, winning seven of them.
The downside is that they have failed to win any of their last three away fixtures in the Champions League, failing to beat Lazio, Arsenal or Real Madrid.
Darren Plant
