Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was delighted with his side’s “fantastic” performance in our 4-2 win over Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Villa produced a sensational start to the game as a brace from Morgan Rogers put us ahead after just five minutes, but our defensive vulnerabilities were exposed again just before half-time as the visitors hit back to level the scores.
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Our second-half performance though was excellent, as Villa built sustained pressure as we pinned Celtic back, and we deservedly re-took the lead on the hour mark through Ollie Watkins, before Rogers completed his hat-trick late on.
The win secured a top-eight finish in the Champions League league phase, which in turn means we advance automatically to the round of 16, and so it was another memorable European night at Villa Park, and Emery was delighted with the supporters, his players and the result.
“Fantastic. We achieved it here with our supporters in Villa Park,” he told VillaTV. “We created a strong atmosphere. The supporters were enjoying with us and transmitting their energy and helping us. Our way here is being very consistent.
“In the Champions League, we enjoy it here and we won matches. We’re feeling strong here through our supporters. They are helping us.
“We are happy to share it with them, with all Villa fans being proud of everything we are doing. We will keep going and going.
“Morgan Rogers was fantastic and the team were fantastic.
“We controlled the game in the first half until their first goal like we want, but I was very demanding with the players in the dressing room at half-time.
“When we are playing better we are keeping ball possession, getting good positions and being patient. We conceded the possibilities for them to attack us.
“In the second half, we did fantastic. There were things we did not do very well in the first half, but overall, we played a fantastic match.”
As noted above and by Emery, there was certainly a shift in our performance after the break, as we were more composed and in control of proceedings, limiting Celtic’s chances while having many of our own to kill the game off.
That will be an area for improvement still as we must be more clinical, but ultimately it was a positive display on a big night, and hopefully we can carry this forward into our upcoming Premier League games.
Given the way in which we conceded though and had a mini-collapse prior to the interval, the defensive side of our game needs to be improved still, and although we were short-handed at the back on Wednesday night, Emery will know that we have to defend better to take advantage of such an exceptional start which had put us in a very strong position.
Nevertheless, Villa secured three crucial points to achieve our objective, and it’s hoped that there are many more big European nights to come in this competition this season.
