Emery ‘dreaming’ of winning Europa League after writing off title

Unai Emery, the manager of Aston Villa, may not think his team is a contender for the title, but he is “dreaming” of winning the Europa League after making the cut.

With a game to go, Villa secured a top-eight league-phase finish by defeating Fenerbahce 1-0 in Turkey.

After losing to Everton 1-0 at home on Sunday, the Spaniard warned Villa that they were “not top-five contenders.”

Their only chance of Champions League football next season will be if Villa finish outside the top four or top five if England receives an additional qualifying berth.

Emery, a former Sevilla, Arsenal, and Paris St-Germain manager, managed his 100th game of the competition on Thursday, managing his record four victories in the Europa League as manager, the most recently with Villarreal in 2021.

After his side won in Istanbul, he declared to the media that “we have clear objectives in this competition to be a contender for a trophy.”

In order to compete for this trophy in the Champions League, “We want to be a contender.” It’s very challenging [through our league], he continued.

“I have a dream that we will be here winning trophies this year, and we have one goal this year: Europa.”

Aston Villa are currently in excellent form.

Only Arsenal (21%) has won more victories than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues during that time, with 20 of their past 25 (D1, L4) wins.

With their lapse against Everton on Sunday, they were unable to move up to second place, just four points clear of Premier League leaders Arsenal-Emery’s former club.

The 28-time Turkish champions’ 1-0 scoreline impressed him as he made six changes for Fenerbahce.

Emery praised his players after the game for “respecting” the competition, adding that he was “so, so happy” with their response.

Jadon Sancho, who made his 19th appearance since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United in September, scored his first goal for Villa.

The 25-year-old forward, who hasn’t played for United since August 2024 and has an expiration this summer, said, “It’s nice to have a manager that supports you and obviously believes in you.”

Every time I play, “He]Emery just keeps telling me to be positive,” he said. I’m going to try my best, whenever I get the chance, and I’ll see if I can accomplish my goals.

Sancho has only started two Premier League games this year, but he has started five of Villa’s last five games in the starting lineup.

Since starting their December league play-off campaign, Villa have played 12 times, and they have a top-eight league-phase finish without a two-legged play-off.

Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers, Emery’s star midfielder, were both rested for the entire 90 minutes on Thursday.

After recovering from a thigh injury, he was able to give Tyrone Mings his first start since November.

Another key player returning from the bench, Amadou Onana, who has been out with a hamstring issue, received a late start.

Emery told TNT Sports, “We are] building the team with some circumstances not helping us.”