Young Boys 0-0 Aston Villa - Champions League: Live score and updates

The first real bit of nerves shown by Aston Villa at the back.

A free-kick is whipped into a danger area and Emi Martinez can't hold onto the ball.

He parries it away and Villa have to hook the ball out of danger.

The first shot of the night goes the way of Young Boys.

It's a rather tame one as Filip Ugrinic sends a free-kick from distance straight into the gloves of Emi Martinez.

Better than nothing, though.

I've seen more enthralling starts to matches that's for sure.

The most entertaining part of this match has to be the Young Boys ultras behind their goal.

Not much is happening on the pitch, but Youri Tielemans has just given away the first foul as I am typing this.

Not much has happened thus far, it's been a fairly timid start.

What I will say, though, is that Aston Villa are sporting a very nice third strip. It's lovely.

It reminds me of a Manchester United strip of the early 2000s with the horizontal white pinstripes.

Their sponsor tonight is Acorns, and that is also a throwback.

Tom Collomosse, Mail Sport, at the Wandkorf Stadium:

There is a cloud of smoke drenching the stadium as the teams take to their positions.

The atmosphere is bouncing, both sets of supporters are well up for this. Songs are being belted out.

And here we go, Aston Villa's first Champions League match in over four decades is underway.

How will they fare?

I just know that Prince William is as nervous as anybody right now.

The prince is a die-hard Aston Villa fan and he has wished his side luck ahead of the big night.

As we speak, the Villans are walking out onto the Young Boys turf with the anthem in the background.

Prince William has also shared a tribute to Gary Shaw.

Are you ready?

Well, you should be. Kick-off is just five minutes away now. I am struggling to contain my excitement.

This is the pinnacle of football and we are about to see the best of it. Get yourselves strapped in.

A new dawn begins.

Tom Collomosse, Mail Sport, at the Wandkorf Stadium:

Yes, you have read that headline right.

By saying Ollie Watkins is worth more than Young Boys, what I mean is that the striker is worth more than their squad.

Sportscasting, have revealed the value of Young Boys and Aston Villas squads by using TransferMarkt.

Watkins has been valued at a nifty £54.8million while the whole of the Swiss side's squad are a total of £51.1m... combined.

Pretty mad, right?

It's not often we see teams meet for the first time, these days.

But tonight, that is exactly what is happening. Young Boys and Aston Villa have never played against each other before.

Saying that Swiss teams have come up against English sides a fair few times, but usually, it doesn't go well.

The Swiss sides have only managed to beat English teams in seven of their 24 meetings.

A good omen for Villa?

Tom Collomosse, Mail Sport, at the Wandkorf Stadium:

These fans must be feeling on top of the world.

I presume each and every Aston Villa fan has been beaming ear-to-ear all day in anticipation of tonight.

Now the supporters who are lucky enough to be in Switzerland are making their way into the away end.

Make no mistake, they will make tons of noise tonight.

Tom Collomosse, Mail Sport, at the Wandkorf Stadium:

It's fair to say, this has been a long time coming.

five years ago, if you told an Aston Villa fan that they would get to watch their team play in the Champions League in 2024, they would laugh in your face.

Well, here we are.

The Villans have been on some journey to get here, but their time in Europe's elite has come once more.

42 years ago, a Peter Withe strike saw them beat Bayern Munich to lift the European Cup.

They haven't featured in the competition since that year, getting knocked out of the quarter-final in the following season, but now they are back.

How are the nerves, Villa fans?

Aston Villa's first European Cup starting line-up in 42 years is here.

Unai Emery has decided to stick with his 11 that beat Everton 3-2 in dramatic fashion on Saturday evening.

Leon Bailey returns to the bench for the visitors while super sub Jhon Duran sits alongside him.

Thoughts, Villa fans?

Here are your hosts.

What I will say is, that is a lovely line-up graphic. Kudos to the social media team over there.

Young Boys have made five changes from their side that beat Vevey-Sports in the Swiss Cup over the weekend.

As many of you may know by now, the Champions League will look a little different this year.

The days of group stages are gone. Yep, it's tough to get your head around, I know.

No longer will we see eight groups of four teams battle it out over six matchdays, with the top two going through to the knockout stages.

Instead, we will see four teams added to the mix to make up a 36-team league table.

Each side will play eight matches, four at home and four away, all against different sides.

The top eight teams in the league will qualify for the round of 16 automatically, while the teams placed 9-24 will face each other in a play-off round to make up the knockout stages.

The rest of the teams will be eliminated...

Have you got all that then? I know it's a lot to take in but I'm sure you will get used to it.

Mind you, I know not all punters are happy about it.

Can you hear the music?

In 45 minutes, we will be hearing the iconic Champions League anthem for the very first time in the 2024-25 season.

It is a tune that can send shivers down anybody's spine and this year it has been revamped, so make sure you have your ears at the ready.

It will be the first time Aston Villa players have ever heard the tune before one of their matches as they play in the Champions League for the first time since its inauguration in 1992.

It's a moment that Villans have been waiting 42 years for, and it's finally here as they take on Young Boys in a new format of the competition.

This new era may take some getting used to for a lot of us. Humans are creatures of habit - we don't like change.

But fear not, I'm certain that the thrills and spills of what is the best competition this sport has to offer will continue to get us off of our seats.

So, get ready for a rollercoaster of a night, and a season.