Can Aston Villa’s Unai Emery match Europa glory in Champions League?

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Villa vs PSG in Quarter-final 

©TM/IMAGO

Unai Emery is unquestionably the greatest ever manager in Europa League history but he’s been unable to replicate that success in the Champions League across his decorated career. But he will be aiming to avenge that this season with Aston Villa despite the odds being stacked against them. Emery is the most successful coach ever in the Europa League winning UEFA’s second biggest club competition a record four times. The Spaniard lifted the Europa League with Sevilla on three occasions in 2014, 2015 and 2016, before famously beating Manchester United with Villareal in Gdansk in 2021.

Emery’s points per game record of 2.09 is also comfortably the best record in the competition’s history – Giovanni Trapattoni is second (1.84) with coaches to manage over 50 games. The 53-year-old, however, has only progressed past the last 16 in the Champions League on one occasion, reaching the semi-finals with Villarreal in 2022. But Emery has now led Aston Villa to the quarter-finals this season after they beat Club Brugge to set up a quarter-final against his former side PSG. The Midlands club will be praying that Emery can transfer his incredible Europa League record to the Champions League this term.

Villa’s late flurry of goals in Brugge combined with their result at Villa Park means they are in the last eight and the club will now be dreaming of repeating their 1982 European Cup triumph this season. Villa made it seven wins in 10 Champions League games this season on their return to Europe’s top competition for the first time in 42 years. As the graphic below shows, Emery has now won 29 of 63 games in the Champions League and his win percentage stands at 46% – excluding qualifiers.

Unsurprisingly, Emery’s record in the Europa League is significantly better than in the Champions League with his win percentage standing at 64% – the Spaniard has won 59 of 94 games. The experienced manager has also lost 35% of games in the Champions League, compared to just 14% in the Europa League but there isn’t a massive difference in his goals scored and conceded records. It’s no surprise that Emery’s record is superior in the Europa League given the increased quality of teams in the Champions League. But Aston Villa have built an excellent squad and Emery’s tactical acumen in knockout games will have supporters hoping for something special.