Aston Villa boss Unai Emery said
ahead of Tuesday night's clash with Bologna at Villa Park that
he had the utmost respect for the Emilians and coach Vincenzo
Emiliano, recalling that the Karlsruhe-born manager had led
Fiorentina to two straight Conference League finals.
Under the Basque coach, who has led the Villans since 2022, the
Birmingham outfit got into the European top flight competition
for the first time since they played as reigning champions in
1983 and have now enjoyed their best start to the domestic
league season since 1998-99, third on equal points with Arsenal
in the Premier League, with 17 points in 8 games.
They also have full points in the Champions League, thanks to
victories over Young Boys and Bayern Munich, after a repeat of
their historic 1982 1-0 European Cup final triumph over the
Bavarians in Rotterdam.
"Bologna have been successful in the last year and have a great
history in Italy. They have played great with Thiago Motta (now
Juve boss, ed.), but now they have a coach who has played in the
last two Conference League finals".
But Villa are building solid foundations to aim high, Emery
insisted.
"We believe we can compete: I don't know how far we will get,
but right now we are here in a good position in the Champions
League and the Premier League. "We want to build something
important.
"This is the message I am sending to the players and that the
boys have made their own.
"This is the way we love football, we love our job and we want
to be successful.
"We want to realize a dream.
"One of these was to play in the Champions League. "But now we
are here not only to play, we want to be here to compete and we
want to confirm ourselves among the greats for a long time".
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