Prince William watches the Champions League game between Aston Villa and Bayern Munich

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Prince William watched his beloved Aston Villa Hosts FC Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The Prince of Wales and future King of England is a lifelong fan of the Premier League team and was part of the audience first home game in the top European competition in 41 years.

William met members of Villa's 1982 European Cup-winning team and posed for pre-match photos at Villa Park before watching the highly anticipated game.

“42 years later, our legends who won the European Cup in 1982 are here on a historic evening,” he wrote on X. “Ready for the first home game in this year's European adventure…”

William, who is also patron of the English Football Association, sat in an executive box, casually wearing a dark blue button-down coat over a maroon sweater and blue shirt.

He was up and cheering with the rest of the home crowd when Pau Torres appeared to have given Villa the lead in the 23rd minute, but the goal was ruled out by VAR for offside.

Villa's last game in the European Cup – as it was previously known – came against Juventus in 1983, when the club were still defending champions. It was eliminated in the quarterfinals and had to wait more than four decades to return.

Bayern were a fitting opponent for their first home game in the competition, as Villa caused a major upset by beating the German champions 1-0 in the 1982 final and lifting the trophy for the first time in their history.

William joined England star David Beckham at the launch of two new air ambulances in London on Tuesday.

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AP Football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer