Fixtures
- RB Leipzig Vs. Aston Villa – Tue, Dec 10th 2024, 20:00
Unai Emery takes his Aston Villa team to RB Leipzig on matchday six of the UEFA Champions League.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s game in Germany, the club’s manager spoke to media at his pre-match press conference at Red Bull Arena.
Here are the key lines from Emery…
On team news…
“[Leon Bailey] has a small injury. He’s not available for tomorrow. We will wait for the next match on Saturday.
“Jacob Ramsey is progressing very well, but still weeks until he’s available.”
On facing RB Leipzig…
“We are very, very motivated and we are enjoying. Tomorrow is day six and it’s very important because we can feel we’re close to the next round, but we have the opportunity to be in the top eight.
“Tomorrow is the match and it’s very difficult against Leipzig, who were contenders at the beginning of the competition more than us to be in the top eight or top 24. They’ve had a really hard schedule, playing against a lot of very good teams.
“They played against Liverpool, they lost. They played against Juventus, they lost. They played against Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and Celtic as well and they don’t have one point. They have nil, but tomorrow is an opportunity for them to get some chance to be in the next round.
“I like matches like that because it’s a key match for them to get to the next round, playing with their supporters. The atmosphere will be fantastic for them and we have our supporters here helping us.
“For us it’s about how we can respond in this atmosphere against the team they are with the players they have. It’s about how we can get our performances, collectively and individually, to compete and to get the points we face.
“It’s a good match to see how the players face a team with more experiences in this competition than us. I think we have to enjoy and get more experiences together.”
On Jhon Durán and Ollie Watkins…
“They are both very good strikers – each of them are different. Watkins is getting more experiences with the national team and with us in Europe, being consistent, being competitive always in everything we need on the field.
“Another like Jhon Durán has big potential. He is progressively getting better. His adaptation started two years ago and it’s much better than the process we had.
“On Saturday he scored a very important goal for us and those moments for a striker or the goal Watkins scored against Brentford are very important for the team and for them.
“The commitment now for them is to try to understand each moment, playing more minutes or less, is very, very important. The next challenge I have is to play with both.
“We are trying and I will try again to play with both. We have to keep the balance, tactically, playing with both. The team is always first.”
On his expectations for the game…
“Our expectation at the beginning was to try to enjoy, try to use the experiences we had last year in Europe with another level. We are doing a fantastic way.
“Even when we lost away against Brugge, it was very good to learn how difficult it is the challenge we faced last year and this year. Tomorrow is a new test. To be consistent as a team is our challenge.
“To be consistent in this competition, to be consistent sharing with Premier League, trying to play every match focusing on the wishes we need to get our performances. This is how we can face our expectations in this competition and how we can increase our level and meet the demands we will face next week, next month, next year.
“This is the objective I have with the players, the team and with the club.”
On Lucas Digne…
“He is a player like every coach would want. He’s mature, very responsible, he wants to improve every day. Even when he’s playing matches, he wants to train more.
“When we are coming from the national team matches with two days off, he’s usually only accepting one day off and then he’s coming to train with us. He’s back with his national team, which is fantastic news for him and for us.
“On the field, he’s giving us a lot of moments, discipline defensively and offensively with the ball. His mentality is fantastic. He wants more and more.
“He’s a good example for other players, how he’s trying every day to train and improve – learning and listening and being humble.
“He played in Barcelona, he played in Paris-Saint Germain, he played in Rome. He’s a player whose career is very good. When we arrived here, his career was maybe going down. Again, he reacted fantastically with the demands we set here to get a new challenge for himself.”
