Emery Aims for Aston Villa's Champions League Stability

Unai Emery is focused on ensuring Aston Villa's recent success in the Champions League is sustainable as he looks to "break barriers" at the club he has revitalized.

Aston Villa has made a strong start to the Premier League season, collecting 17 points from their first eight matches, marking their best start since 1998. In the Champions League, they have secured victories in their opening two matches, including a notable win against Bayern Munich.

Emery brings extensive experience in European competitions, having won the Europa League four times and leading Villarreal to the Champions League semi-finals two years ago.

Before this season, Villa last participated at the highest level of European football in 1983 and has not lifted a trophy since 1996. Emery is intent on upholding the standards established since he took over two years ago.

"I don't want to waste my time here, that is my message," he stated ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match against Bologna at Villa Park. "My objective here is to keep the same level we have now, Champions League and add more to be contenders for titles. We want to achieve the objectives and one of them is to play in the Champions League. It is not about playing there only because of some circumstances. I want us to stay there for a long time."

Emery acknowledged the challenges ahead, emphasizing the need for resilience. "It is difficult. Maybe sometimes you can have some problems or struggle in our way, but you have to be resilient. We want to be strong in the idea in our mind and create a strong mentality to always break barriers."

A victory against Bologna could potentially secure enough points for Villa to advance to at least the play-off round of the Champions League with five games remaining. Currently, Emery's side sits fourth in the Premier League, outperforming Chelsea, Tottenham, and Manchester United, whom they outpaced for a top-four finish last season.

"We are fourth in the Premier League, we are with two wins in the Champions League," Emery remarked. "Tomorrow hopefully we will play showing we believe we can compete. I don't know how far we are going to get, but in this moment we are here, in a good position in the Premier League and Champions League."

Defender Matty Cash is set to make his Champions League debut after missing earlier matches against Young Boys and Bayern Munich due to injury.

"In the last four years since I joined, the club has just gone through the roof, the quality in every single department has gone up and the club has not got a ceiling," Cash said. "I think it can go all the way to the top. You can see now playing Champions League football has been a building block to get here and the manager has been a big part of that to get us here."