Unai Emery wants to win the Europa League with Aston Villa after they booked their place in the Round of 16 with a 1-0 win at Fenerbahce on Thursday.
The English side are assured of a top-eight finish ahead of the final rounds of matches and will avoid playing two extra matches in the playoffs.
Emery, who downplayed the club’s title challenge in the league last weekend, believes his side can win the Europa League and end their 30-year major trophy drought.
The Spaniard has won the tournament four times as a manager – three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal in 2021 also managed his 100th game in the competition in the win over the Turkish side.
“We want] To be a contender in case we need this trophy to play in the Champions League. Through our league [it] is very difficult”, Emery stated.
“I am dreaming to be here getting trophies and the Europa is one objective we have this year.”
Jadon Sancho scored the only goal of the game in the first half, although Aston Villa also struck the post and had another strike ruled out in the clash.
The English club moved up to second on the 36-team standings and are level on points with Olympique Lyon in first place, heading into the final round of matches.
Emery also hailed the team’s performance in the clash, stating that they deserved the victory which has put them in a good spot in the competition.
“We competed fantastic and we adapted to everything they were demanding of us. In the first half we played fantastic. We were controlling with and without the ball. In the second half, we started with chances to score the second goal and we finished it over 90 minutes deserving completely the result we have”, the Spaniard added.
Aston Villa face a tough trip to Newcastle United in the EPL this weekend, before welcoming Salzburg to the Villa Park in the Europa League next week.
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