This is YB's opponent at the start of the CL season Aston Villa - a rich newcomer with a great past

The rich newcomer with a great past - Gallery

Aston Villa cheered often last season. Mostly involved: attacking players Ollie Watkins (left) and Leon Bailey

Image: Keystone

Among others, the team from Birmingham beat champions Manchester City in impressive fashion

Image: Keystone

Things have been going well at Aston Villa since Basque manager Unai Emery took over the reins

Image: Keystone

The Argentinian world champion goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is a strong back-up

Image: Keystone

The market value of the squad is estimated at just under 600 million euros. Captain John McGinn takes 9th place in the team's internal ranking with 30 million euros

Image: Keystone

The rich newcomer with a great past - Gallery

Aston Villa cheered often last season. Mostly involved: attacking players Ollie Watkins (left) and Leon Bailey

Image: Keystone

Among others, the team from Birmingham beat champions Manchester City in impressive fashion

Image: Keystone

Things have been going well at Aston Villa since Basque manager Unai Emery took over the reins

Image: Keystone

The Argentinian world champion goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is a strong back-up

Image: Keystone

The market value of the squad is estimated at just under 600 million euros. Captain John McGinn takes 9th place in the team's internal ranking with 30 million euros

Image: Keystone

Five years ago in the second-tier Championship, Aston Villa are about to make their debut in the Champions League - thanks to a lot of talent, even more money and a coach who knows how to combine the two.

Rarely has a team been so dominated by Pep Guardiola as on December 6 of last year. Although Aston Villa only won 1:0, Unai Emery's team played the champions from Manchester to a wall - not just in phases, but for 90 minutes. The 22:2 shots on goal reflected this.

Aston Villa also beat league leaders Arsenal a week later to lay the foundations for their first ever qualification for the Champions League. In the end, 68 points were enough for fourth place. The Villans had only finished higher in the Premier League once before - when the new league was introduced in 1992/93.

Difficult times

Not so long ago, it seemed illusory that the traditional club from Birmingham would make it to the top tier of European football. Aston Villa is one of the most important clubs in the country; the club has won the Champions Cup once and has won the league and FA Cup seven times each. But its successes date back more than 40 years.

Aston Villa were relegated from the Premier League in 2016 and took three seasons to recover from the shock. Even after returning to the top flight, the club bobbed around in lower mid-table. Success only returned to Villa Park with the arrival of Unai Emery, who took over from the hapless Steven Gerrard in November 2022. The meticulous Basque led the team from 13th to 7th place and into the European Cup. The breakthrough finally came last season.

A big wallet

As much as the success bears the signature of Unai Emery, Aston Villa's upswing is linked to the names of Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. Since the Egyptian entrepreneur and the American businessman took over the club in 2018, money has been flowing freely in England's second-largest city. In the last five years, the two billionaires have invested almost 800 million euros in new players. In comparison: Young Boys spent less than €30 million on the transfer market in the same period.

The traditional English club and the Swiss champions live on different planets in terms of financial resources. And yet they play in the same European league, with three points at stake on Tuesday. At least in terms of Champions League experience, the Bernese are ahead. While this year's campaign is a first for the English side, YB are playing in the top flight for the fourth time.

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