Villa memories ´most important´ to Europa League specialist Emery

Unai Emery may have a remarkable record in the Europa League, but he says memories made at Aston Villa will be the most important ones.

Emery’s four Europa League titles are the most in history, winning it three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.

His 58 wins also put him top of the pile in the competition’s all-time standings, while he has reached the final in his last five full campaigns in UEFA’s second-tier club tournament.

Villa have started strong in Europe this season as well, beating Bologna and Feyenoord before Thursday’s visit to Go Ahead Eagles.

Emery will hope to keep the good times rolling in their third Europa League outing, with his focus on repaying the Villa faithful with an experience that may last them a lifetime.

“Europe is always very difficult. I have my own experiences, but the most important ones are the experiences we have together here with Aston Villa,” he said at Wednesday’s pre-match press conference.

“It’s very, very important. We played in the Conference League, we played in the Champions League, and we struggled even more in the Conference League playing away than we did in the Champions League.

“To get a good result away, it’s necessary to play focused, to play disciplined, to play seriously, and then to play trying to impose our game plan and tactical structure against the opponent.

“Tomorrow is going to be the same. They are playing with their supporters. They won one match, they have three points and for them it was very important to get points.

“Playing at home, they’re going to give their best. They’re going to be so, so motivated for this match.”

Netherlands bound pic.twitter.com/LwYWLEy5WX

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 22, 2025

An opening 1-0 win over Bologna seemed to propel Villa’s campaign into life, having previously gone five matches without victory to start their Premier League season.

Including that Bologna victory, they have won their last five matches across all competitions, and Emery puts the improvement down to time on the training pitch with his new signings.

“We needed to adapt some new players, to get the balance emotionally with the team because we had some circumstances that didn’t help us in August,” he added.

“In September, we were progressively getting better and emotionally feeling together the way we needed to do.

“Individually and tactically, we were working, getting matches, getting minutes, getting confidence, getting good results, and now there’s still work to do.

“We’re in October and we need to improve in the Premier League, clearly. We have to try to keep our strong way in the Europa League.”