Aston Villa boss has underlined the chance of his team in the Champions League this season that they are not the favorites.
Aston Villa are back in action for the Champions League game in the midweek. They are playing host to the Norwegian side, the league champion, Viking Stavanger FK. Many would believe that after their two wins, it would be quite easy for them to pick up another three points, considering their opposition is a debutante team.
However, Unai Emery does not feel that way as he is aware how challenging it is to do well. He urges his players to respect other teams, including their next opposition, in this campaign, as reported in avfc.co.uk.
“The message is respect. Respect the competition, respect Europe, the difficulties in Europe to be like we are now with six points, but to keep it for the next matches.
“To be in the top eight, we are not favourites, or even we are not contenders, because there are a lot of teams in front of us for it, but in case we are getting points like we did, tomorrow, of course, we can have our opportunity to be there.”
Emery also points out that his team would play down the possibility of not performing their best, despite his consideration on rotating the squad. He expects each and every one in the squad to remain focused and carry on working and improving themselves. It is for the sake of the team and their campaign as well.
“We need every player, we need to continue working, not relaxing. We are under our expectation in Premier League. We are in Champions League, performing well and getting good results, but tomorrow we can’t relax in 90 minutes in nothing, because we must be so, so organised, so, so focused, so, so involving in how we need to improve things, how we are working inside in the meetings, in the practice, in each match, how we are playing to try to get better.
“And we can’t forget, we won last week against Fenerbahçe at home, but we were not winning before. And tomorrow, again, we must try to be aware about how difficult the match is and how we must get inside the pitch in 90 minutes, our best collective and individual performance and attitude.”
Ahead of the Viking clash, Emery appears to see how Viking plays, especially after they managed to hold Bayern in a 3-3 draw in their previous match. The Spanish boss points out their strength on physical game and set pieces. They were leading two nil first in the first half from set piece and quick counterattack and were able to score a late equaliser through a header.
“They are very intense. Defensively, high press, very, very intense, getting a lot of duels, and they are good. When they need defence being compact and in low block as well, they are a very good team. They are intense and aggressive and playing in contact in duels, so it’s not easy to dominate the match against them.
“When they are with the ball, they have intelligent players, and as well, physical players to get duels as well. They are playing short, they are playing long, they want to be more in the opponent box. They are very strong in set-pieces – very, very strong.
“They believe a lot in their set-pieces, in throw-ins, in corners, in free-kicks, so, we must be, in 90 minutes, so, so focused on our task, collectively, individually.”
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