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UCL Advertisement live Updated 1m ago Subscribe to The Athletic on an exclusive offer here. Getty Images Matty Cash makes his Champions League debut this season. The 27-year-old spent half of the 2015-16 season on loan at fourth-tier side Dagenham and Redbridge and will now be lining up against one of the biggest clubs in world football. Cash made the move to Aston Villa in 2020 after starring for Nottingham Forest in the Championship. Not only is he making his Champions League debut this evening, he is also making his 150th appearance for Villa so tonight will live long in the memory. Son of former pro footballer Stuart, he can be very proud of his journey. Keen to read more? The Athletic's Jacob Tanswell wrote about his importance to the side. You can check it out below. GO FURTHER Matty Cash’s importance to Aston Villa Advertisement Getty Images A big night for Boubacar Kamara tonight, especially after coming back from injury. A key role as the midfield anchor and as evidence in his absence shows, he brings greater control in possession and is key to stopping transitions. Starting XI: Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Weah. There is just one change for the visitors from the team that drew 0-0 with Milan at the weekend. And it is a change that has real significance for the USMNT as Weston Mc Kennie has dropped out for international team-mate Timothy Weah. Starting XI: Martinez; Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans, Mc Ginn; Bailey, Rogers, Watkins. Unai Emery has made three changes to the team that drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace on Saturday. Both full-backs have changed with Matty Cash and Lucas Digne coming in for Lamare Bogarde and Ian Maatsen. The other change is in midfield where the returning Boubacar Kamara is in for Ross Barkley. Getty Images And despite Aston Villa having gone without a win in their last six matches, Thiago Motta expects a tough test in the West Midlands when he spoke in yesterday's press conference. "Tomorrow we will face a great team, " he said. "A team that is in good form, especially in this competition. "We will go into the game with great humility, determined to play our game and with respect for our opponent as always. I am always positive, I have great confidence in my players who show every day that they are ready to compete and give everything. " Getty Images This season marks Aston Villa's first appearance in the Champions League/European Cup since 1983, the season after they won the tournament for the first and only time. Looking at the eight opponents Villa face during this season's league phase, it's hard to imagine a slate of teams with more history in the competition than these. Bayern Munich are six-time European champions, while Juventus are two-time winners and also hold the dubious distinction of having been runners-up a whopping seven times, the most in the competition's history. Celtic were also champions in 1967. Monaco and Club Brugge have each appeared in the tournament's final once, while Young Boys and RB Leipzig have each reached the semi-finals once. Even Bologna, the only of Villa's eight opponents not to have previously appeared in the final four, have played in the semi-finals of the Europa League/UEFA Cup. Advertisement Get ready to see a sea of claret ahead of kick-off in the stands tonight. This summer, Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz and Villa Women’s Switzerland international Alisha Lehmann moved from Villa Park to Turin in a rare ‘couples transfer’ — in which a male and female player move from the same selling club to the same buying team. In this case, Lehmann followed Luiz just seven days after his move was completed. The really interesting thing? They are real-life partners. Below, The Athletic explores how the deals happened and how they are working out. GO FURTHER Douglas Luiz, Alisha Lehmann and a rare couples transfer Getty Images Fans are making their way to Villa Park now that we're within a few hours of the match. Getty Images Despite the injuries that have swept through the Juventus squad in recent weeks, Unai Emery believes his side are the underdogs this evening. "Tomorrow, Juventus are the favourite in front of us, " the Aston Villa boss said in yesterday's press conference. "Because they have experiences, they have a really good team, and very good players, and they are favourites to be in the top eight. " Speaking about Juventus manager, Thiago Motta, once one of his former players, Emery added: "He is as he was as a player. I was with him two years, he was very, very competitive, he was very, very intelligent. "He was a top player, skills, physically strong, mentally strong, and now, as a coach, he has started being successful. His progression has been fantastic. Juventus now is in the process of building a team, but (they are) competitive. " Getty Images In their last match, a 2-2 draw against struggling Crystal Palace at Villa Park, a familiar problem resurfaced for Aston Villa. Once again, they conceded from one of their own corners, just as they did two weeks earlier in an away defeat against Liverpool. The Athletic's Jacob Tanswell covered on the issue in a tactically focused piece, which you can read below. Enjoy! GO FURTHER Are Aston Villa a danger to themselves from their own corners? Advertisement Getty Images In their fourth game of this year's Champions League campaign, Aston Villa suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Club Brugge, surrendering their 100 per cent record and slipping from top spot. Villa were only projected to finish the league phase on 10 points before the first match, so their relative over-performance (nine points from the first three games) was outstanding. Even so, the model powered by Opta projected after matchday four that they were more likely to finish in the play-off berths than the automatic qualification spots, with Juventus, Leipzig, Monaco and Celtic still to play. GO FURTHER Champions League projections: All the talking points after matchday four Getty Images As we mentioned a little earlier on, there are two early matches today followed by the usual seven later on. Those first two games are moments away from starting: All four of those teams have made slow starts to the campaign and are languishing in the bottom part of the table, so victories today would go a long way to strengthening their hopes of progression. The Athletic Tim Weah has been one of Juventus' form players this season under new boss Thiago Motta. Everyone at Juventus affectionately calls the man who will likely provide Aston Villa a defensive headache this evening, just ‘Timmy’. And last month, Timmy spoke to The Athletic about his game, in his words. Check it out below. GO FURTHER Tim Weah: My game in my words USMNT midfielder Weston Mc Kennie has been left out of Juventus’ squad for this one. The former Leeds United man joins Dusan Vlahovic, Arkadiusz Milik and Arthur Melo in missing the trip to Villa Park, though Mc Kennie’s American team-mate Timothy Weah has been included as one of four forwards. There will be no Villa reunion for Douglas Luiz, who spent five years with the Premier League club before joining Juventus last summer. The Brazil international has missed Juventus’ past five Serie A games through injury and has not recovered in time to face his former side. Meanwhile, defender Juan Cabal is set for an extended period on the sidelines after having an operation to repair the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee. He sustained the injury in training for Colombia and underwent successful surgery on Tuesday. GO FURTHER USMNT’s Weston Mc Kennie out of Juventus squad for Aston Villa trip, Tim Weah included Getty Images Unai Emery has confirmed Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara are available for Aston Villa for today's game. Konsa (hip) and Kamara (hamstring) missed Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace due to injuries but both are back in training this week. Elsewhere, Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana are unavailable. The Athletic reported earlier this month that Ramsey is expected to be out for a few weeks with a hamstring issue, while Onana sustained a foot injury on international duty with Belgium. GO FURTHER Ezri Konsa, Boubacar Kamara set for Aston Villa returns against Juventus Advertisement Aston Villa manager Unai Emery often takes trips home to Spain during an international break, allowing a couple of days of rest and an opportunity to refresh. But four days after Villa’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield, a fourth consecutive loss before Saturday's draw with Crystal Palace, Emery was pictured at Bodymoor Heath, clipboard in hand, back in training. Sources — who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships — describe the recent work undertaken over the last 10 days as “huge” as Emery resolves to arrest the acute decline in form. Read more about what he is doing below. GO FURTHER Unai Emery doubling down on his workload to reverse Aston Villa’s drop in form Get in contact with us using our email: livebloguk@theathletic. com. There, you can ask us a burning question you want answered, predict how the game will go, or interact with other fans. We'll feature the best of your contributions in this blog - so get typing. Juventus also played on Saturday, their most recent match ending in a 0-0 draw with Milan at the San Siro. In a game which saw defence dominate attack, Thiago Motta's side failed to fire, with only two shots on target as midfielders Weston Mc Kennie and Teun Koopmeiners were used as auxiliary forwards. The result leaves them sixth in Serie A, though they are only four points off Serie A leaders Napoli.