Unai Emery has urged Aston Villa to “break our limit” by enhancing their chances of advancing automatically to the Champions League last 16 with victory against RB Leipzig. Villa, in Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 1983, can take a major step towards the knockout phase if they can defeat the Bundesliga side, who have not registered a point after five matches.
Villa arrived in Germany after successive Premier League victories and can return to winning ways on the continent after a shock defeat at Club Brugge and a draw at home against Juventus. Emery said Villa must learn their lesson from that difficult trip to Belgium against Leipzig, another team who will be considered underdogs, despite playing in the Champions League in six of the past seven seasons, reaching the semi-finals under Julian Nagelsmann four years ago.
Emery said he was enthused by the challenge of facing a team with everything on the line. “My wish to play in this competition is because of how we can break our limit,” he said. “At the beginning we were more or less contenders to be between positions eight and 24 [in the table], but the possibility we have to be in the top eight, [it is about] how we can face this, how the players can respond and show our capacity. I want to play matches like that because for our mentality it is good as well, how we can manage one match like tomorrow, and with the difficulties we are going to face. Maybe tomorrow if they are not winning, they will not have possibilities to be in the next round and for Leipzig, they usually have the capacity, players and objective to be there.”
Morgan Rogers, who made his England debut last month, less than a year after signing with Villa from second-tier Middlesbrough, said he has enjoyed the step up in class and the challenge of staying in peak condition. The midfielder has established himself as a regular in Emery’s team, usually playing behind Ollie Watkins in attack, though Jhon Durán started and scored the winner in the victory against Southampton on Saturday.
“I thought the Championship was hard but this is a whole new level,” said Rogers, who also represented Bournemouth and Blackpool in the division. “It is about eating, sleeping well and training right. It is about understanding your body better than anyone else.
“Everyone uses different things but it is about making sure you’re ready to go when the whistle blows. It is about understanding your body and using that to your advantage.”
Emery said partnering Watkins and Durán together in attack is his next challenge. “They are both very good strikers with different experiences,” the Villa manager said.
“Watkins is getting more experience in the national team and in Europe, is being consistent and competitive with everything we need on the field and Durán has big potential and progressively he’s getting better. Now he’s much better than two years ago. The next challenge I have is to play with both.”
Emery’s journey to his pre-match press conference at the Red Bull Arena was slightly hampered by traffic caused by fans arriving for a gig by the heavy metal band Slipknot at the arena opposite the stadium. Villa are without Leon Bailey owing to a minor hamstring problem, while Jacob Ramsey is closing on a return to action after sustaining a hamstring injury in the defeat by Liverpool last month.
