Unai Emery is not ready for Aston Villa’s Champions League journey to end as his side aim to book their quarter-final spot.
Villa put one foot in the last eight with a 3-1 last-16 first-leg win over Club Brugge last week and they aim to finish the job at Villa Park on Wednesday.
It has been a dream debut season in the Champions League for Villa so far but Emery is looking for even more, with a possible quarter-final tie against Liverpool or Paris St Germain looming.
The Boss' full press conference is now available to watch on VillaTV 📺
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 11, 2025
“Always we want to improve and get better,” he said. “We have to see it on the field, we have to really show it.
“We are getting better, but we are under our expectation in the Premier League and we have to try and get the balance in the next week and months in the Premier League.
“Of course everything we are doing in the Champions League and FA Cup is fantastic, to keep it now is our challenge.
“I don’t want to stop, I want to get something more.
“But it is going to be very difficult starting from tomorrow.
“Of course we have our challenges, our vision of how we want to increase our level and achieve different objectives.
“We are now involved in it. To play in this Champions League has been fantastic but my objective is to try to be consistent playing in Europe and playing in the Champions League.
“And everything we are achieving of course is because we are in a new way and in a new demand.”
Villa grabbed the tie with both hands thanks to two goals in the final 10 minutes in Bruges last week, but Emery insists the tie is not over.
“Nothing changes, we are respecting them a lot, we have our own experiences, myself and the players in their career, anyting can happen tomorrow.
“It’s a football match, a lot can happen in 90 minutes, the match can change so quickly. We were there and we won in the late minutes with two actions.
“We are going to play the second leg, we are ready for 90 minutes to compete, we are ready in case we need extra time and we are ready in case we need penalty kicks.”
Villa have good news on the injury front as Emiliano Martinez and Marco Asensio are available again after they missed the weekend win at Brentford.
Midfielder Amadou Onana is also back in the frame but Ross Barkley continues to miss out, while Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia are ineligible.
“They (Martinez and Asensio) are both in the squad,” Emery said. “Onana as well is coming back in the squad, Barkley is not. Malen and Andres aren’t.
“And other players I think are in the squad. Of course, hopefully we can have all players available to play.”
