When Viking FK ended a 34-year Norwegian title drought last year, it was days like these in the Champions League they were dreaming of.

A visit to Aston Villa on Wednesday comes on the back of a remarkable 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich last time out, where Viking led 2-0 at half-time but then needed a last-minute goal to rescue a point.

After that game, Viking captain Zlatko Tripic - who joined the club in the second tier in 2018 - told Norwegian channel TV2: "I could have played another 90 minutes. I'm so incredibly proud. I've waited 34 years for this."

Tripic is one part of the Stavanger club's revival story - along with a rarity in modern football, joint head coaches.

Former assistants Morten Jensen and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim both stepped up together in 2021 and led them to last season's title - while they are top again this season.

The pair spoke to the BBC's Euro Leagues show last month before their Champions League debut.

Aarsheim, who spent the bulk of his playing career at Viking, said: "It's a special story. We were born Viking fans, we've been playing in Viking.

"We were working together as assistant coaches and the dream job in managing Viking came up.

"We said let's do it together. It will be better and the chances to get the job will be better."

In a recent interview with the Guardian he said: "For us, Viking is Barcelona. The players have to understand that we see Viking as more than a club. In our heads, it's the best team in the world."

Jensen, who was on Viking's books as a player but never made a first-team appearance, said: "If you dare sometimes to go against the strides then you can achieve great things.

"If you're going to follow and do whatever everybody else does, maybe we become a poor replica.

"So for now we're happily married here and we love working together."

This is Viking's first time in a European group stage since the 2005–06 Uefa Cup.

Aarsheim said: "It's almost unreal. We talked about it, maybe you should go into the Conference League and learn there, then you go into the Europa League. And we just jumped into the best party ever so it's unreal."

Jensen called their Champions League fixture list - which includes trips to Villa, Atletico Madrid and Napoli and the home game with Bayern - "the whole buffet".

"We go to England, we go to Germany, we go to Italy, we go to Spain. We go to Napoli, Diego Maradona's old playground, against Atletico Madrid we'll be up against Diego Simeone's side which will be very interesting," he said.

"And obviously Aston Villa as well, Norwegians are quite obsessed with English football so to go there to Villa Park and actually our old assistant coach Pal Fjall is set-piece coach there."

Last season they wrapped up the title on the final day - beating Valerenga 5-1 at home to maintain their one-point lead over dethroned champions Bodo/Glimt.

It marked Viking's first league title since 1991, having been in the second tier as recently as 2018.

"A lot of people were very nervous and excited. I've never experienced it before," Lars Risan - a Viking fan and podcaster told BBC Radio 5 Live last year.

"Hopefully it won't be the only time in their life they experience it, but it's been 34 years.

"It's a big deal. It brings us all together and we can celebrate as a city. It's one of those special things you never know when you'll be able to experience again.

"You can feel the atmosphere in town. I want everyone to be able to take part in that. If we could just go down to stadium and have a big party that would be awesome."

Viking are three points above Bodo this season - but have played a game more.

Viking are one of Norway's most successful teams, with this their ninth league title.

However six of their titles came between 1972 and 1982.

They have had several British managers, including former Manchester United defender Bill Foulkes - a survivor of the 1958 Munich air disaster and European Cup winner in 1968 - in 1985, and Roy Hodgson for 18 months from 2004 to 2005.

Viking also had several players who went on to have careers in the English Premier League, including former Fulham striker Erik Nevland and defender Brede Hangeland, Southampton striker Egil Ostenstad and Thomas Myhre, who was a goalkeeper at Everton and Sunderland.

Nevland, who also played for Manchester United, has been Viking's sporting director since 2021.

In Europe they enjoyed famous days too, perhaps most notably knocking Chelsea out of the Uefa Cup first round in 2002 with a 5-4 aggregate win.

But in 2017, under English manager Ian Burchnall and with several British players in the team, they were relegated for the first time in 31 years.

Viking fan Risan said: "They spent too much money on players who weren't good enough. A lot of things went wrong and it ended in relegation. But it turned out to be a good thing for Viking."

As they prepared for the second-tier campaign in 2018, back came Bjarne Berntsen as head coach.

The veteran had previously played for the club, managed them from 1992 to 1995, had another spell as caretaker boss and also been their chief executive for a while.

Aarsheim and Jensen were his assistants.

They won the second-tier title and promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.

"They realised they had to go back to their roots and make the people of Stavangar proud of Viking, and be part of the Viking family," added Risan. "There were a lot of local players, they invested in the youth academy.

"They built for the future something that would be stable for years and not relying on money from rich uncles, as we say in Norway."

In their first season back in the top flight, they won the 2019 Norwegian Cup - their first trophy since 2001.

After finishing sixth in the Covid-interrupted 2020 season, Berntsen was surprisingly sacked and replaced by his two assistants.

"People were sceptical about it," admitted Risan.

"It seems like it just works for them even though people were laughing or asking questions. They figured out how they wanted to do it and stuck to it. They're both from Stavanger and love the club."

They finished third in 2021 and 2024 and the duo finally got their team over the line last season after finishing with seven consecutive wins.

Key to their success has been captain Tripic.

The winger, now 33, joined the club immediately following their relegation in 2018.

He had previously won the Norwegian title twice with Molde in 2011 and 2012 and arrived from Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol, where he had played in Europe.

"It's a great story," said Risan. "We had just got relegated in 2017 and it was a big surprise when Zlatko turned up.

"He was a profile, someone we didn't think [we could sign]. We thought he just came to keep fit and train.

"But he really liked the idea of taking the club to something great and being part of a good story.

"Viking is traditionally a big club, but it was down in the dust. He's been a big part of taking Viking back to the top of the table."

Tripic scored the winner in their 2019 cup final success over Haugesund but left in 2020 for Turkish side Goztepe, returning 18 months later.

The Croatia-born forward then reached double figures in both goals and assists in three consecutive seasons - something no Viking player had ever done before.

And he was one of the heroes in last week's draw with Bayern, setting up two goals including the equaliser.