Unai Emery proud of Aston Villa’s Champions League run but ‘we want more’

BIRMINGHAM – Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is thrilled to have steered his side into a Champions League quarter-final, but now wants even more as they face a daunting clash with Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.

“For us, it is very important to be in the Champions League quarter-final, to play against Paris Saint-Germain is something we have to be proud of,” said Emery, after seeing off Belgian champions Club Brugge in the last 16 on March 12.

“We are in this level, we have to be proud, but we want more. We want to compete against the best teams in the world. Now our priority is to try to be close to the level we are facing.”

Emery, who has won the Europa League four times, said PSG, whom he coached from 2016 to 2018, would be formidable opponents after they beat Liverpool on penalties to set up the last-eight clash.

“Of course to play a quarter-final is fantastic, we are very excited, very motivated. To play against PSG is very difficult. They showed their capacity playing against Liverpool, the best team in the Premier League, the best team in Europe until yesterday,” he said.

The 53-year-old Spaniard was disappointed with his side’s first-half performance against Brugge in the second leg at Villa Park, where they failed to score after the visitors had right-back Kyriani Sabbe sent off in the 17th minute.

However, it all came good with three goals after the break for a 3-0 victory on the night and a 6-1 aggregate triumph.

“I’m very happy how we competed over the two matches,” he said.

He singled out forward Marco Asensio for praise following his second-half double after coming on as a substitute. Left-back Ian Maatsen scored Villa’s other goal.

“We are happy with him. We are protecting him because he is not 100 per cent ... Today, he was feeling good. He wanted to start the match, but I decided to protect him. He played in the moment we needed him and he took the responsibility to do his task and score goals.”

Over at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal drew 2-2 with PSV Eindhoven to complete an emphatic 9-3 aggregate win and set up a quarter-final against holders Real Madrid.

The Gunners demolished the Dutch champions 7-1 in the Netherlands on March 4, making the second leg a formality.

Arsenal, who made seven changes from the weekend’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United, were quickly out of the blocks, scoring in the sixth minute through defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Croatian veteran Ivan Perisic pulled PSV level on the night with a fine finish past the sprawling goalkeeper David Raya, but midfielder Declan Rice headed Arsenal back in front. PSV equalised with 20 minutes to go with a well-taken goal from forward Couhaib Driouech.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said the club should enjoy the achievement of reaching back-to-back quarter-finals for the first time since 2010, when Arsene Wenger was manager of the club.

“That tells you the difficulty of it,” said the Spaniard, who turns 43 on March 26.

“We have to value that and recognise that it is very difficult to do it. We’ve done it consistently and now we want to make the next step, which is going to be really difficult, but we are very capable of that.”

Also through to the last eight are last season’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund, who saw off Lille 2-1 at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy for a 3-2 aggregate win and a quarter-final date with Barcelona. REUTERS, AFP