The Match I Remember: Aston Villa v Barcelona 1978
Published by Stephen Milward in Sport · Thursday 19 Feb 2026 · 1 minutes
Tags: Aston, Villa, Barcelona, 1978, football, match, history, nostalgia, sports, memories, European, football, soccer, legendary, matches, Johan, Cruyff
Tags: Aston, Villa, Barcelona, 1978, football, match, history, nostalgia, sports, memories, European, football, soccer, legendary, matches, Johan, Cruyff
I was at College in 1978 when the chance to see Barcelona play Aston Villa came up. Above all, I wanted to see Johan Cruyff (i), the legendary Dutch forward. So along with some College friends, on 01 March 1978 I went to Villa Park, with 55,000 in the crowd.
(i) Wikipedia: Johan Cruyff
An amazing atmosphere in the ground and when Cruyff scored at the Holte End (we were at that end of the ground), everyone applauded. When Cruyff went off, the crowd repeated the ovation. The game finished 2-2. Barcelona won the second leg. But the memory of that night in Birmingham has stayed with me.
You can see the first half TV highlights here:
(i) Wikipedia: Johan Cruyff
