Fixtures
- Young Boys Vs. Aston Villa – Tue, Sep 17th 2024, 18:45
Unai Emery spoke to media on the eve of Aston Villa’s UEFA Champions League clash against BSC Young Boys in Switzerland.
The Villa manager offered his condolences following the passing of Villa legend Gary Shaw earlier on Monday and hailed the impact of the 1982 European Cup winner.
Emery also shared how Villa, in honour of the much-loved striker, will have another motivation for victory on Tuesday night.
The Spaniard went on to discuss the club’s involvement in the Champions League, his desire to compete like Villa do in the Premier League and provided the latest on Leon Bailey’s fitness.
He’s what Unai had to say on…
The passing of Gary Shaw…
“My condolences go out to his family and all of the supporters of Aston Villa Football Club.
“Memories – we will remember him always with our pictures of the 1982 European Cup in our training ground.
“He was the protagonist for that, my condolences.”
Asked whether he would like to dedicate a potential positive result tomorrow night to Gary, Unai replied: “Yes, we can have another motivation.”
Playing among Europe’s elite…
“We’re excited. It’s a good moment for the club after a long time, playing again in the Champions League.
“Hopefully we can keep it for a long time again.
“It’s really our challenge, and my own challenge was to get Europe; last year we got it playing Europa Conference League and now in the Champions League, trying to keep it.
“We know how difficult it is. To play again in the Champions League is, more or less, through the Premier League and there are 7-8 teams being favourites or contenders to get it.
“But we have to try to enjoy each match, each moment.
“And now we are starting in this competition, we are, of course, very motivated.
“We can use our own experiences as coaches because we’ve played in the Europa Conference League, Europa League and the Champions League. And some players as well have played.
“The most important experiences for us are the experiences we had last year, here together.
“We want to build and create a new way here together for Aston Villa, with the players we are adding, the first time playing in Europe here or last year.
“The first message I can send them is I want to be competitive and face each team, tomorrow Young Boys and afterwards Bayern Munich, being competitive like we are in the Premier League.
“The difficulty is to compete in the Premier League, being there in the tough positions like last year.
“And similarly, we have to do that here in this competition because, more or less, the best teams in the world are in the Champions League and the Premier League.
“Last year we learned a lot about what it’s like to play away, against other teams in other countries.
“Tomorrow, here in in Switzerland, I played before against other teams here, and always it’s very difficult.”
On his Champions League aspirations…
“To compete and face each match being competitive.
“How far we can get? I don’t know. But, of course, I’m not going to refuse any objective in this competition.
“Tomorrow, try to start being comfortable on the pitch, try to start playing increasing our level.
“We’ve started very well in the Premier League, but I think we still have a lot of work to do.
“Tomorrow is a good opportunity again to try to get it – tactically and individually.
“And then be competitive, adapting to the opponent’s demands, and try to impose our style, our idea, our gameplan.”
On Leon Bailey’s fitness…
“He is in the squad, we’re going to train now (at Stadion Wankdorf) and hopefully he’ll feel good.
“Tomorrow we’ll decide if he’s playing minutes or in the starting XI.
“But it’s good news.”
