Emery revels in victory against Bologna

Unai Emery cut a very happy figure after Aston Villa maintained their 100% start in the UEFA Champions League with victory against Bologna.

A 2-0 win at Villa Park was the perfect way to mark the Spaniard’s two-year anniversary as manager, which falls on Thursday.

A controlled, classy performance once again exemplified the progress made by the team under Emery’s guidance, taking the club to the top of the league phase standings.

“I’m very happy,” he said.

“I’m delighted with the supporters helping us today and how they were transmitting their energy. I’m really happy because we responded on the field playing a really serious match in the 90 minutes.

“We were playing being mature, trying to respect them and being ambitious to play to win. We tried to push in everything; without the ball we pressed well, with the ball we were breaking their man-to-man press.

“I’m really happy because we won 2-0, we had chances, we controlled the game like we were planning before and now we keep going. We are happy and we have to be delighted with the way we are doing in the Champions League, but there are still a lot of matches to play and we have to keep our balance.”

As well as making it three wins from three in Europe, the result extended Villa’s unbeaten run in all competitions to ten games.

Emery is determined to keep pushing his squad as they look to be competitive on multiple fronts this season.

He said: “This is our challenge, my challenge, and I’m sending the message to the players: we have to keep the level increasing.

“This high level we are trying to keep is the most challenging we can have in Champions League, in the Premier League.

“The players must be committed for this challenge like I think we need.”