'Lost their minds' - Aston Villa legend recalls notorious Super Cup battle with Barcelona

For one thing, they never actually received a trophy.

“It was a plaque,” explains Tony Morley. “I remember Ken McNaught going to pick it up and saying: ‘What the heck is that?’

“We were European champions, Super Cup winners and we were all expecting a big trophy.

“Then we get a plaque. Running around the Villa Park pitch with that just didn’t feel quite right.”

Morley is recalling the night Villa completed a 3-1 aggregate victory over the Catalan giants to back-up that far more famous, more remembered night in Rotterdam seven months previously.

“We beat two superpowers, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Not bad going is it?” he laughs.

After 43 years, Villa finally face Barcelona again. Whatever happens on Tuesday, it will have to go some to match the notoriety of the most recent encounter.

The latest installment is round three, with the scores locked at one apiece.

It was Barcelona who triumphed in the first meeting, a 1978 Uefa Cup quarter-final in which Villa briefly threatened to pull off a stunning second leg victory with 10 men in front of 90,000 at the Nou Camp, only to be eventually overhauled 4-3 on aggregate by the Johan Cruyff-led hosts.

A little less than five years later came the Super Cup rematch, Tony Barton’s Villa heading in as European champions and Barca after winning the Cup Winners Cup.

“It was exciting because you are playing against one of the biggest clubs in the world and of course, the stadium was truly magnificent,” says Morley.

“I remember we went the night before, not to train but just to see it. Quite a few of us climbed up the high terracing right to the back. The view was phenomenal.”

Cruyff might have retired but the Barcelona side was still packed with quality, with players including Periko Alonso, father of ex-Liverpool star and current Chelsea boss Xabi, albeit new signing Diego Maradona missed the tie through illness.

But as Morley and his team-mates would quickly discover, their approach was not all based on flair.

“One thing I remember is on the walk from the dressing room to the pitch, there was a chapel off to one side,” he says.

“A few of their lads were in there praying when I went past and I thought: ‘nice people’.

“My god, once we got on the pitch they were animals. They just wanted to kick us all over.

“It wasn’t what I expected. I thought it would be a hard game. They had some world class players.

“But it was the standing on your toes, elbows in the back of your head, forearms into your back, all the clever tricks.

“Things like that just weren’t in our game at all at the times. It was physical but it was in front of you.”

Facing Barcelona also posed a unique tactical problem.

“It was the first time I had ever seen wingers play on the opposite wing,” he continues. “A right winger playing on the left, and a left on the right.

“Most teams do it now but then we’d never seen it before. As soon as they got the ball the strikers would run out wide, our centre-backs would follow and it was leaving huge gaps.

“In the first half they could have been two or three-nil up.

“I remember Ken McNaught sorted it out. We adjusted. We were a good side like that, with players on the pitch who could figure things out.”

Villa escaped the Nou Camp with just a 1-0 defeat through Marcos Alonso’s second half strike.

That set up a second leg which is still referred to in Barcelona as the “Battle of Villa Park” in rather bitter tones.

Their belief is Peter Withe should have been red carded for an elbow which left towering centre-back Migueli playing with a bloodied shirt.

Yet it was Barcelona who finished the tie with nine men and who were later threatened with a ban from European competition by Uefa’s disciplinary chief.

“They simply lost their minds,” recalls Morley.

The abiding memory for Villa supporters is Gordon Cowans being booted into the net by goalkeeper Urruti, after scoring on the rebound to his own saved penalty that put the home side ahead in the tie for the first time.

Gary Shaw had earlier scored to level things on aggregate and send the tie to extra-time. After Cowans then netted, Ken McNaught headed home a free-kick to put the result beyond doubt.

Alonso was sent-off for spitting at Mark Walters and though Urruti avoided punishment for volleying Cowans, he was later banned for four matches after it emerged he had bared his backside at the referee.

Morley, by this time, was a spectator, forced off after taking one whack too many.

“We saw how technically good they were at the Nou Camp and then how nasty they could be at Villa Park,” he says. “I don’t think they could take getting beat.”

Tuesday night will hopefully be a little less controversial. Morley will be watching on with pride, this time his shins safe from harm.

“Villa are in the best position they have ever been,” he says. “I have been involved for nearly 50 years and I can say that categorically.

“They have two owners who have huge ambition and a top, top manager.

“The most important thing is always if a club is managed properly from the top. It is at Villa, there’s no doubt about that.”