BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Aston Villa did it for Gary Shaw, and in some style.
Prince William was among the Villa fans following the club's return to top-tier European competition after 41 years away with a 3-0 win over Swiss club Young Boys on Tuesday. It was a day after the death of club great Shaw, a forward who won the 1982 European Cup with Villa.
“The last time @AVFCOfficial won in the top European competition, it was the month before I was born. Let’s hope tonight is the first step towards another European adventure!” William posted on X shortly before kickoff. “My thoughts this evening are also with Villa legend Gary Shaw’s friends and family following his passing yesterday.”
Villa's players wore black armbands to remember Shaw and coach Unai Emery dedicated the win to Shaw.
“Of course we want to dedicate this victory to Gary Shaw, his family and all of the Aston Villa family," Emery said, adding that Villa wants to emulate Shaw and his teammates from 1982 “and follow what that team achieved.”
Shaw was only 21 and a rising star of English soccer when he won the European Cup but his career never recovered from a serious knee injury a year later. He died Monday at the age of 63.
The Birmingham club had not played in Europe's premier competition since the 1982-83 season, when it lost in the quarterfinals to Juventus in March 1983 while trying to defend the trophy it won the season before.
Emery was coaching a team in the Champions League for the first time since Villarreal's semifinal loss to Liverpool in May 2022. Since arriving at Villa, Emery has transformed a team that finished 14th in the Premier League before his arrival into one capable of keeping up with England's best.
Youri Tielemans and Jacob Ramsey scored for Villa in the first half. Amadou Onana scored from a long-range shot in the 86th.
England forward Ollie Watkins was seen with ice on his ankle after being substituted in the 60th minute, though Emery indicated the issue was likely not serious.
This story has been corrected. Aston Villa’s last European Cup campaign was in the 1982-83 season, not 1983-84.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Aston Villa's player celebrate their side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Young Boys Bern and Aston Villa in Bern, Switzerland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Peter Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)
Aston Villa's Jacob Ramsey celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Young Boys Bern and Aston Villa in Bern, Switzerland, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Peter Peter Schneider/Keystone via AP)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump's fourth scheduled stop in eight days in Wisconsin is a sign of his increased attention as Republicans fret about the former president's ability to match the Democrats' enthusiasm and turnout machine.
“In the political chatter class, they’re worried," said Brandon Scholz, a retired Republican strategist and longtime political observer in Wisconsin who voted for Trump in 2020 but said he is not voting for Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris this year. “I think Republicans are right to be concerned.”
Trump's latest rally was planned for 2 p.m. Central time Sunday in Juneau in Dodge County, which he won in 2020 with 65% of the vote. Jack Yuds, chairman of the county Republican Party, said support for Trump is stronger in his part of the state than it was in 2016 or 2020. “I can’t keep signs in,” Yuds said. “They want everything he’s got. If it says Trump on it, you can sell it.”
Wisconsin is perennially tight in presidential elections but has gone for the Republicans just once in the past 40 years, when Trump won the state in 2016. A win in November could make it impossible for Harris to take the White House.
Trump won in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton by fewer than 23,000 votes and lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes.
On Tuesday, Trump made his first-ever visit to Dane County, home to the liberal capital city of Madison, in an effort to turn out the Republican vote even in the state's Democratic strongholds. Dane is Wisconsin’s second most-populous and fastest-growing county; Biden received more than 75% of the vote four years ago.
“To win statewide you’ve got to have a 72-county strategy,” former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said at that event.
Trump’s campaign and outside groups supporting his candidacy have outspent Harris and her allies on advertising in Wisconsin, $35 million to $31 million, since she became a candidate on July 23, according to the media-tracking firm AdImpact.
Harris and outside groups supporting her candidacy had more advertising time reserved in Wisconsin from Oct. 1 through Nov. 5, more than $25 million compared with $20 million for Trump and his allies.
The Harris campaign has 50 offices across 43 counties with more than 250 staff in Wisconsin, said her spokesperson Timothy White. The Trump campaign said it has 40 offices in the state and dozens of staff.
Harris rallied supporters in Madison in September at an even that drew more than 10,000 people. On Thursday, she made an appeal to moderate and disgruntled conservatives by holding an event in Ripon, the birthplace of the Republican Party, along with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of Trump’s most prominent Republican antagonists.
Harris and Trump are focusing on Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the “blue wall” states that went for Trump in 2016 and flipped to Biden in the next election.
While Trump’s campaign is bullish on its chances in Pennsylvania as well as Sunbelt states, Wisconsin is seen as more of a challenge.
“Wisconsin, tough state,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, who worked on Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s winning reelection campaign in 2022.
“I mean, look, that’s going to be a very tight — very, very tight, all the way to the end. But where we are organizationally now, comparative to where we were organizationally four years ago, I mean, it’s completely different,” LaCivita said.
He also cited Michigan as more of a challenge. “But again, these are states that Biden won and carried and so they’re going to be brawls all the way until the end and we’re not ceding any of that ground.”
The candidates are about even in Wisconsin, based on a series of polls that have shown little movement since Biden dropped out in late July. Those same polls also show high enthusiasm among both parties.
Mark Graul, who ran then-President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign in Wisconsin, said the number of campaign visits speaks to Wisconsin’s decisive election role.
The key for both sides, he said, is persuading infrequent voters to turn out.
“Much more important, in my opinion, than rallies,” Graul said.
Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jill Colvin in Butler, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at Dane Manufacturing, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Waunakee, Wis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Dane Manufacturing, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Waunakee, Wis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign event Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Prairie du Chien, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
