Prince William watches Champions League match between Aston Villa and Bayern Munich

Prince William watched his beloved Aston Villa as it hosted 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 crowd for its first home game in European soccer's elite competition for 41 years.

William met members of Villa's 1982 European Cup winning team before the match at Villa Park before watching the much-anticipated match.

William is also patron of the English Football Association.

Villa's last game in the European Cup — as it was formerly known — was against Juventus in 1983 when it was defending champion. It was eliminated in the quarterfinals and has had to wait more than four decades to make a return.

Bayern was a fitting opponent for its first home game back in the competition, given Villa caused a major upset by beating the German champion 1-0 in the final of 1982 to win the trophy for the first on only time in its history.