Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa put themselves in a strong position in the UEFA Cup third round as they open up a two goal lead over Bilbao 🇪🇸 ahead of the second leg.

Villa secure a 2-0 home win over Bilbao 🇪🇸 but it could have been more as ‘keeper Iríbar proved fallible throughout and once again the officials rule out a Villa strike in curious circumstances. 

Brian Little 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 riffled a tremendous right foot shot into the net after 32 minutes from a corner by Alex Cropley 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. But Dutch referee Johan Beck 🇳🇱 disallowed the "goal" ruling that the uninvolved John Deehan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 had run offside.

Villa face Athletic Bilbao 🇪🇸 for the first time in competitive football, Bilbao become the 114th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football, Villa’s fourth continental European opponents and their first from Spain 🇪🇸.

Centre forward Andy Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 makes his 🕒 100th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 keeps his ⛔ tenth clean sheet in 🕒 23 appearances in a Villa shirt (43%) whilst conceding 🥅 19 Goals (0.83 per Game).

Centre forward John Deehan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 75th appearance in a Villa shirt.

Forward Brian Little 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 🕒 200th start in a Villa shirt.