BIRMINGHAM, England : 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 Paris St Germain.
“For our club, it is very important to be in the Champions League quarter-final, to play against Paris St Germain is something we have to be proud of,” said Emery after Wednesday’s defeat of Club Brugge in the last 16.
“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 would be formidable opponents after they defeated Liverpool to set up the quarter-final clash.
“Of course to play a quarter-final is fantastic, we are very excited, very motivated,” he said.
“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.”
The Villa manager, who was PSG coach from 2016-18, was disappointed with his side’s first-half performance against Brugge in the second leg of their knockout, when they failed to score after the visitors had a man sent off. But it all came good with three goals after the break for a 6-1 aggregate victory.
“I’m very happy how we competed over the two matches,” he said.
He singled out Marco Asensio for praise after his second-half double when he came on as a substitute.
“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.”
