ROBIN GOOD & HIS EMERY MEN
Daily Star|May 02, 2024
Unai has no doubts Olsen can step up and deliver like Spink
NEIL MOXLEY
ROBIN GOOD & HIS EMERY MEN

THE greatest night in Aston Villa's history was built on the back of a No.2 keeper.

When Nigel Spink took over from Jimmy Rimmer 10 minutes into the European Cup final in 1982, he was about to write a boy's own tale.

The Essex-born shot-stopper jumped off the bench in Rotterdam and produced the performance of a lifetime to help land the biggest prize them all.

Fast forward 42 years and the club's current stand-in - Robin Olsen - has been charged with filling the gap left by world No.1 Emi Martinez as Villa again stand on the threshold of glory.

The Argentine's gamesmanship might have helped Villa find a route past Lille during a tense penalty shoot-out in the quarter-final but it has cost him his place in the first leg of tonight's semi-final. There is, however, one crucial difference between the two scenarios.

Spink was a rookie. Olsen is anything but. With 56 appearances in European competitions to his name following spells at Malmo, Copenhagen and Roma, the 34-year-old Swede has plenty of big-game experience.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 02, 2024 من Daily Star.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 02, 2024 من Daily Star.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.