Villa face FC Dynamo Kyiv for the first time in competitive football, Kyiv become the 120th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football, Villa’s eighth continental European opponents and their first from Ukraine.

Tony Barton's Villa secure an excellent goalless draw in the away leg at the Dynamo Stadium to leave it all to play for in the European Cup third round second leg at Villa Park despite problems surrounding the tie. Barton had formally protested to the Soviet Football Federation about the hotel accommodation after the team was unexpectedly denied rooms in the plush Hotel Yalta and moved to a lesser establishment. Not only that but the game itself was played in Simferopol after Dynamo's own pitch was ruled out by a severe winter with Villa kept in the dark about the venue. On the field Allan Evans failed his fitness fight, with Colin Gibson also missing out.