Aston Villa will face Hibernian in the Europa Conference League play-off round over a two-legged tie this month.
Following our seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season, Unai Emery guided us to a return to Europe as we look forward to what will hopefully be a deep run to the latter stages of the competition this year.
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Before that though, we will have to overcome Hibernian in the play-off round to qualify for the group stage, after they saw off FC Luzern in their latest qualifying round.
With Hearts also advancing to the play-off round, there has been some confusion over scheduling as with both Scottish sides set to host the first leg, there could be a change made by UEFA to avoid a clash.
As per Villa’s post above, they add that the first leg will definitely be played at Easter Road next week, thus ruling out the potential of the ties being switched around, with the second leg to be played at Villa Park on August 31.
However, what that does leave open is the possibility of the game being moved from its current Thursday slot next week, and so we are likely to see a change made.
That decision should arrive on Friday, but Emery and his coaching staff will now be able to begin preparations for that tie knowing who we will face, and hopefully they’ll be able to put together a successful plan to ensure we progress to the group stage.
It promises to be a hectic fortnight for Villa with potentially five games in 14 days, and it will be a test of our squad depth and competition, especially with a number of injury concerns currently.
Nevertheless, it’s hoped that we will have enough to prevail, with Emery looking to continue his brilliant record in Europe by leading us to some long-awaited success too.
UPDATE: Hibernian have now confirmed that the first leg will be played at Easter Road on Wednesday, August 23, with kick-off at 5.45pm.