Swain did not hear back, although saw Saunders a few times in the future, but the pressing issue became that night in Rotterdam.

Villa were underdogs, while Bayern already had three European Cups in their cabinet and few gave Barton’s boys a chance.

“There was a focus and a belief that you’re going to have to be special to beat us,” said Swain, who left a few months after the win to join Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest.

“Personally, I felt at my peak. We were so hard to beat and so finely tuned for these games. After Ron left, the focus, the consistency, the spirit and the belief didn’t change at all.

“They produced a couple of scares but I vividly remember one moment down our left. They managed to get a cross in and, because I was retreating back towards our goal, I ended up just outside the six-yard box.

“This ball flew over me and I saw Karl-Heinz Rummenigge – he looked like an acrobat. He jumped and did this overhead kick. I just watched it flash past the post and Nigel and I were looking at each other thinking: ‘This is different gravy.'”

Yet Villa held on to write their names in the history books.

Spink said: “It was unbelievable because it was almost impossible to take in what we had just achieved.

“I remember looking over and Bayern were shell-shocked. They were all sitting on the pitch absolutely stunned.”

Swain agrees, having also stumbled on the crestfallen Bayern dressing room on his way out of De Kuip.

“Looking at the enormity of the occasion and the achievement, I was walking along the corridor and the door of the Munich dressing-room door was slightly ajar,” he said.

“I could see there was somebody still in there and there were kits and socks on the dressing-room floor. It was Rummenigge and the captain [Paul Breitner] sitting together with their heads in their arms, looking down.

“They both looked up in shock, so I said: ‘Hello, best of luck – maybe see you next year’ and they were absolutely desolate. These were two of the leading players in Europe.

“There’s me just innocuously opening the door and then seeing these two sitting there, just these two big Munich stars.

“The achievement is in the history books and can never go away. While you still enjoy life on this earth, it is unbelievable for the club and every player. It was a moment to savour.”