Aston Villa boss Unai Emery shared his delight after seeing his side secure a place in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night.
A 3-0 win over Club Brugge in the second leg of our round-of-16 tie ensured we progressed 6-1 on aggregate, and set up a quarter-final showdown with Paris Saint-Germain.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Club Brugge: Asensio magic, trio decisive in win
It didn’t go all our way as we adopted a cautious approach in the first half to protect our 3-1 lead from the first leg, but after the visitors were reduced to 10 men, it was a big opportunity to finish the job.
A brace from Marco Asensio and a first Villa goal for Ian Maatsen made it a more enjoyable second half, as we ultimately managed the game perfectly to nullify Brugge’s threat in the early stages before taking the game, and tie, away from them with much-improved play in the final third after the break.
It was another wonderful European night at Villa Park, and Emery was keen to praise all concerned for playing their part in our ongoing progress in the competition.
“I’m very proud of our supporters, our work, the players, the club, the workers because we’re increasing our demand,” he told VillaTV. “In increasing our demand we have to get the objective we are facing in the high level we have to get. This season, playing in the Champions League was a very good opportunity when we started and we’re really focusing a lot in the Champions League about how we can be a protagonist.
“Today we competed against one team and performed very well. I’m very happy with how we are in the way and we’re going to play a quarter-final against PSG.
“This is two matches more for our supporters to be with us, to share with us their emotions and we’re going to try to prepare as best as possible to continue like we are doing.
“The first half was a little bit – not a surprise because every team in the Champions League can perform like they did.
“We couldn’t stop them, we couldn’t recover the ball and we couldn’t dominate with the ball in the first half. We provoked the red card because this action we did is one option we have with a long ball in behind. Rashford did fantastic and the ball from Emiliano Martínez was fantastic.
“In the second half we changed completely and we were speaking at half-time about how we could change how the match was going. We did and the players took responsibility to get our plan strongly to dominate like we did in the second half.
“Through this domination we scored three goals. My objective, I told the players, is playing like we did in the second half when it’s 11v11 and try to achieve the same performance like we did.”
It will undoubtedly be a tough task against PSG given their form and quality this season, and it will be imperative to return from the French capital with a positive result ahead of the second leg at home.
Nevertheless, we’ve competed well against some top European sides already on our run to the quarter-finals, and it’s hoped that we can produce what would be a shock and advance to the last four.
With Emery’s experience and know-how in Europe, it’s hoped that he can be a difference maker over the course of the two legs, but as we continue to see the likes of Asensio and Marcus Rashford make such an important impact, there is real quality in this side as our squad continues to get stronger with key individuals returning from injury too.
