Unai Emery calls for more after Aston Villa reach Champions League quarter-final

Villa completed a 6-1 aggregate win over 10-man Club Brugge to set up a meeting with Emery’s former club Paris Saint-Germain next month, continuing their impressive run in their first season back in Europe’s elite club competition since 1983.

But Emery does not want the journey to end.

“Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter, Arsenal, Dortmund. This is the level and we are in this level,” said the boss, listing the names of other teams in the last-eight. 

He continued: “We have to be proud, but we want more. We need to compete against the best eight teams in the world. Our priority is to be close to the level we are facing.”

Marco Asensio, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, set up a showdown with his parent club by scoring twice, while Ian Maatsen was also on the mark as Villa scored three times in 11 second half minutes in the second leg against Brugge.

Emery’s men were already big favourites to progress, holding a 3-1 lead after last week’s first leg in Belgium.

But they struggled in the first half of the return despite the visitors seeing Kyriani Sabbe sent-off in the 16th minute.

Asensio added quality when he replaced Ollie Watkins at the break, with Emery now set to return to PSG for the first time since leaving in 2018.

The French club will enter the tie as favourites after knocking out Liverpool in the last-16.

Emery said: “To play in the quarter-final is fantastic. We are excited and motivated. To play against PSG will be very difficult. They showed their capacity against Liverpool, the best team in Europe until yesterday.

“To play against PSG is special because I didn’t go back there since leaving. It will be fantastic.

“No, not yet. We are focusing on Brugge and respected them. Now, we are going to rest and recover our energy. 

“We are going to prepare to play against Preston and then Brighton, then take information about PSG. 

“I know their potential, their huge potential. They are going to be very motivated for the Champions League because they have already beaten Liverpool. 

“They competed in those two matches fantastic. We will analyse and identify our power against them and weaknesses. 

“We will prepare two matches. For our club, it is very important to be in the Champions League and quarter-final.”