4 Europa League titles – Can Unai Emery’s European success lead Aston Villa to Europa Conference League glory

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3rd most wins in Europe since 2009 

Aston Villa go to Lille this Thursday to play their first European quarter-final since they got to the Intertoto Cup semi-final back in 2003. The club are also in position to nail down a top-five-finish in the Premier League, which is likely to be enough for Champions League football next season. It’s exciting times at Villa Park. And in their dugout, they’ve got a real European expert in Unai Emery.

The Spaniard has won the Europa League a record four times. Three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal. Both clubs had never won the Europa League before his arrival. He also took Arsenal to the final in 2019, where they were eventually beaten 4-1 by Chelsea. In the Champions League, Emery never managed to get past the round of 16 with a star-studded PSG team, but did take underdogs Villarreal to the semifinals in the 2021/22 season. In this campaign’s Europa Conference League, Aston Villa have won five of their seven games and are the favourites to go on and lift the trophy. With European expert Emery at the helm, they might just do that.

Not many managers boast a more successful European record in recent times than Emery. Although most of his good work has come in the Europa League rather than the Champions League, the Spaniard is an expert at setting his teams up to take something from tricky ties on the continent. As can be seen below, no manager has won as many games as Emery in the Europa League since its re-format from the UEFA Cup in 2009, and by some distance. Emery is 20 wins ahead of second placed Jorge Jesus and 31 wins ahead of third placed José Mourinho on that list. 

Whilst that record is mightily impressive, it’s fair to say the Europa League doesn’t quite have the pedigree of the Champions League which is widely considered as the pinnacle of club competition. It’s probably also not fair on managers at the top of the game, who have less chance to compete in the Europa League with their teams often in the Champions League rather than the Europa League. However, if we compare the most wins across all three European competitions in that same time period since 2009, Emery still comes in joint second place with 90 wins in total. As can be seen below, He is only behind the great Pep Guardiola on 102 wins, and level with Mourinho on 90 wins.

Centre-back Pau Torres was part of Emery’s Europa League winning team at Villarreal and is now a key part of his defence in the West Midlands. The Spanish defender was speaking ahead of his team’s quarter-final first leg, and played down the club’s tag as favourites for this year’s Europa Conference League title, “For us it doesn’t matter, because for example in the Champions League both Arsenal and Manchester City played amazing games and drew. In these competitions, in the quarter-finals, any team is the favourite. You need to play and work to show how your team prepared for the game.” And that’s the kind of attitude that perhaps epitomises why Emery’s team have been so successful in Europe. He knows how difficult every game is on the continent, and is never at risk of taking an opponent lightly. 

Nevertheless, their opponents Lille will be no pushovers. The French side currently sit in fourth place in Ligue 1, but are just four points off of second. They are unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions, and have conceded just three goals in eight matches in the Europa Conference League this season. Their striker Jonathan David, who boasts a market value of €50m, has 23 goals in all competitions this term, and is sure to test Villa’s injury ravaged defence. Emery’s European prowess will be key to Aston Villa’s progression.

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