Aston Villa vs Young Boys: Its more than 'just' a game

Aston Villa games are a necessity. It's been argued over the past weeks - in the wave of ticketing price debates - that they are not.

Villa in Bern against BSC Young Boys taught me that for some - Villa games are an utter life essential. I'll explain why - eventually - and I won't go near another morbidly boring financial debate.

After all, Villa's return to the promised land is worth more than graphs, spreadsheets and numbers.

I've woken up early for Villa games before, but 2:30am on match day is a new record - and an absolute piss take. I can't remember feeling very good upon rising early in the morning, and this attempt carries on that streak. My eyes are sore. Coffee hits an empty stomach, cortisol spikes. Birmingham to Gatwick awaits.

Within the blink of an eye (and thanks to my mate Rich's driving to Gatwick in the first place) I'm in Basel. Mere hours later, and a thick SBB train complete with restaurant car snakes through a grey Swiss countryside with me as its lowest priority cargo. Bern awaits. Villa's return to the top-tier of European football awaits. Just shy of the Alps, they will do what they haven't done in over a generation.

I feel a sense of stillness arriving in Bern. It's not necessarily quiet - Villa fans are up to their antics, but there's an unspoken disbelief, a voice in the head. We're in the Champions League - but nobody knows what that means bar a starry patch on a shirt, and 8 games on the top table. How will Villa perform? What's the aim? Where's the goal?

Bizarrely, there's no pressure in the air. No tenseness. Legia Warsaw at the same point last season in the Conference League was a harsh day for Villans on multiple fronts, but the same can't be said about Bern. Playing in a competition involving Europe's high rollers feels oddly comforting rather than a rolling the dice at the high-stakes table.

It feels like we're all here - team & fanbase - to show what we can do, and under the guise of underdogs (well maybe not against Bern) this time around.

You have to love a shuttle bus. After wandering around Bern without much information on transport looking for a queue, we find what we're looking for - a sneaking line of familiar faces decked out in claret & blue awaiting carriages. The bus shakes and throbs with energy, fans slapping every surface they can find - windows, doors and bars. It's a surprise it doesn't careen off the road.

Up until the stadium gates, it hasn't sunk in. It's a paradox, this. Villa in the Champions League. It lies somewhere between an impossibility, and something I'd always thought would happen. But everything fits there, right? Everything can happen, and can't happen - but this felt like both. Somehow, I'm here, staring at the brutal steel walls of a Swiss stadium in disbelief. A shower of Vodka and Coke that fans are trying to get rid of is what stirs me, and I'm glad it did.

Heading into the turnstile, dreams were almost crushed. I'd seen a fair few people turned away already, nd I quickly joined their ranks. My ticket didn't scan. Conversely, others got into the stadium without scanning. This is an issue.

I was told that it'd already been used, which is an impossibility. Everyone I know in the area has the reference to go, I've got the only copy of my ticket, and there's no way in hell I'm selling this on. As if?

Credit where it's due here - the Villa fans turned away didn't cause a scene and start pushing, they just walked to the ticket office (where admittedly they did rage a little, but who wouldn't in the circumstances). Thankfully, someone recognised me and pointed me in the direction of Villa staff doing their best to calm a growing queue of fans down. There are no winners in these situations, but the staff did well to get the issues sorted. You wonder how many times bullshit crowd issues outside of stadiums is simply down to incredibly bad tech.

Sprinting up beer sodden concrete, I waded through a crowd to find familiar faces. Thankfully, they were right there and waiting.

And within minutes. It hit. That Champions League theme. Man.

I'll never forget it, but it felt so familiar. I remember playing an Xbox 360 game - Champions League 06/07 - and dragging Villa to the top, in a stadium crowned with stars. It was only on that screen, with John Carew bagging hat-trick after hat-trick against the likes of Lyon, Barcelona, and Bayern, that this felt possible. I remember sitting alone in my bedroom, feeling almost ashamed at picking Villa to play that game. It wasn't 'realistic'. We'd never reach the top. It wasn't meant for us.

Yet, here we stand.

As it blared out, those lonely memories flooded back. Here I am now, surrounded by new friends. People I respect and who, hopefully, respect me. I'm not so alone. I'm hearing the theme and it's my fucking team who are playing. It's so real.

What plays out, though, is like a dream. A watercolour painting slowly took place before me. Brushstrokes of blue and silver flit around the pitch, and goal after goal is scored. To the roar of the fans, Villa crowned their return with a 3-0 away win.

Flocking to the buses, and of course, a pub, Villa fans line the streets and sing long into the early hours. They'd have done this regardless of the result.

But a win makes it so sweeter, and the songs will help it last forever in the mind.

It's still there in my head in Basel airport. What feels like aeons later. Villa are back in the big time. I've never seen them here, but it feels comfortingly familiar. As our plane traces through the moonlight back towards Gatwick, I find myself barely able to contain my excitement at watching them again, in another European arena.

Villa matches, not just glorious away days like this, but in general, are a necessity. To some.

No, not a necessity like water, air, food, good health, and the love of a partner. But a necessity in its own way. We're all sweeping issues under the rug in our own way. We're all fighting battles, and maybe hiding from some things. For many, things like following the Villa do the heavy lifting. For a small select group, Villa will be the entire shield - deflecting away the harsh realities of life.

Plenty of the away crowd will save up thousands to head across Europe and England following Villa. Some will be stretching their finances to the brink. Contrarian types will say they need to stop being so irresponsible. Perhaps, but why be responsible when dealing with a love like this? 

So when we group people into 'entitled season ticket holders', 'tourists' and reject any notion of loyalty being rewarded - let's just remember that community is at stake if we surrender entirely to capital.

We're all in this together, and right now it feels beautiful.