Aston Villa captain John McGinn has emphasised his side’s ambition to be remembered as more than a “maybe team” as they aim for Europa League success under manager Unai Emery.
Villa, who have impressed in recent seasons with strong Premier League performances and a run to the Champions League quarter-finals, take a 1-0 aggregate lead into the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday in Birmingham. McGinn highlighted the team’s determination to translate their efforts into tangible success.
“That’s what the manager has driven into us,” McGinn said. “He’s a manager who has a reputation of not getting close to the finish line, he’s got a reputation of getting over the finish line. So we don’t want to be a maybe team. We don’t want to be a team like, ‘Aye, they were not bad’. We want something to show for it. And we know we’ve got an expectation and are one of the favourites to win the competition. It’s up to us to deliver performances and results that prove why we’re one of the favourites because of how we’ve played over the last few years, domestically and in Europe.”
Villa, however, have won only two of their last nine matches in all competitions. Emery, a four-time Europa League winner as a head coach, put the recent form into context.
“It (our form) can feel a little strange, but we are playing the second leg in the last 16 of the Europa League, and when we arrived here three-and-a-half years ago, it was a dream in the moment,” Emery said. “Wow, it was so difficult to think we could achieve it in the period time we have, so quick. And how we are being consistent in Premier League, being fourth, even though we have lost in the last three matches, we are fourth in the league.”
Should Villa progress past Lille, they will face one of Italian sides Roma or Bologna in the Europa League quarter-finals, providing an opportunity to finally deliver silverware to Villa Park.
