BERN, Switzerland — Aston Villa did it for Gary Shaw, and in some style.
Villa returned to top-tier European competition after 41 years away with a 3-0 win over Swiss club Young Boys. It was a day after the death of club great Shaw, a forward who won the 1982 European Cup with Villa.
Villa’s players wore black armbands to remember Shaw and coach Unai Emery had said before the Champions League game in Switzerland that any win would be dedicated to Shaw.
“We have a memory always, in our training ground a picture of 1982 and the European Cup, he was a protagonist of that,” Emery said Monday. “Yes, I think it’s sad and we can use it as motivation.”
Shaw was only 21 and a rising star of English soccer when he won the European Cup but his career never recovered from a serious knee injury a year later. He died Monday at the age of 63.
The Birmingham club had not played in Europe’s premier competition since the 1982-83 season, when it lost in the quarterfinals to Juventus in March 1983 while trying to defend the trophy it won the season before.
Emery was coaching a team in the Champions League for the first time since Villarreal’s semifinal loss to Liverpool in May 2022. Since arriving at Villa, Emery has transformed a team that finished 14th in the Premier League before his arrival into one capable of keeping up with England’s best.
Youri Tielemans and Jacob Ramsey scored for Villa in the first half. Amadou Onana scored from a long-range shot in the 86th.
England forward Ollie Watkins was seen with ice on his ankle after being substituted in the 60th minute.
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