Intertoto Cup: Aston Villa and the unique group of English winners
If you mention the words Intertoto Cup to the modern football fan some of them wouldn't know what you were talking about.
It is one of those tournaments that has drifted off into the history books - but for Aston Villa they remain one of a select bunch of English sides to have taken glory in the competition.
The competition was founded in 1961 as a summer competition that was aimed for clubs that hadn't qualified for European competitions - and over the years has changed formats and guises.
In 1995, UEFA took control of the competition and it changed again over the latter years from group stages to straight knockouts and for a period before 2006, it had three separate 'winners' who would then go on to quality for the UEFA Cup.
But in 2000/2001 - the outright runner was Aston Villa, decades after their last European triumph.
For the final few years there were straight winners, with Newcastle United the last side to get their hands on the trophy before it was discontinued.
Here is a look back at the Villa side who enjoyed that success back at the turn of the millennium:
Villa finished the previous season under John Gregory in 8th place and set about trying to build on that - and their pre-season began with the Intertoto Cup campaign.
They came into the competition in the third round - where they travelled to face NK Slaven Belupo from Croatia in front of just 3,000 fans
It was a difficult night for Villa and they came back having lost by the odd goal - with their strike coming in the 88th minute courtesy of David Ginola.
Then on the return to Villa Park the following week - Lee Hendrie's first half double turned the tie on its head and Villa were into the next round.
On to the semi-final in Rennes in their away leg and Villa they were 2-0 down heading into stoppage time - before Darius Vassell scored what would end up being a pivotal goal.
On the return to Villa Park - in front of a crowd of just under 31,000 - Dion Dublin bagged a goal in the ninth minute and with the away goal a week earlier they were through to face Basel in the final.
In the first leg - Villa took 1-1 draw back to the West Midlands leaving them as favourites to take the trophy.
Captain Paul Merson scored a vital away goal on the hour mark - as he side footed home from close range after the keeper had spilled a venomous shot from Hassan Kachloul.
The home side then levelled 15 minutes from time when Christian Gimenez scored a goal that mirrored Merson's earlier effort.
Then Villa blew the Swiss side away at Villa Park - with Vassell's goal on the hour mark followed by a second half brace from Juan Pablo Angel.
Then Ginola fired home in the 83rd minute and the silverware was staying at Villa Park.
To this day, Villa remain one of only four clubs to have got their hands on the cup - alongside West Ham, Fulham and Newcastle United, with the competition now consigned to the history books.
