ROBIN GOOD & HIS EMERY MEN

Unai has no doubts Olsen can step up and deliver like Spink

- NEIL MOXLEY

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.