Unai Emery issues Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans updates after Aston Villa draw at Zrinjski Mostar.
Unai Emery issues Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans updates after Aston Villa draw at Zrinjski Mostar.
After defeating Zrinjski Mostar 1–1, Aston Villa won Group E and advanced to the Europa Conference League round of 16. Club captain Unai Emery was thrilled to see his team reach its first goal of the season.
Now that the round of 16 matches won’t take place until March, Emery’s team can focus
on Premier League obligations for almost three months. John McGinn replaced Zrinjski as
Nicolo Zaniolo’s assistant after the hour mark, and Matija Malekinusic gave the home team a late equalizer.
“We are happy because our objective was to be the first in the group and with this draw we are,”
Emery stated to Villa TV. “We also wanted to play with guys like Alex Moreno
and Jacob Ramsey who haven’t played much this season due to injury.
“As well with Leander Dendoncker, Filip, Tommi O’Reilly as well it is important for them to
get confidence and minutes. Jhon Duran as well. Tonight was perfect with this result
and perfect for the players to get their chances.
Emery added: “We wanted to win, but the first objective was to be first in the group
and then try to enjoy the way in this competition. Being in Europe, it is important to remember
how we achieved it last year and how we are now trying to win a trophy and
enjoy it with our supporters. It is important to enjoy it with them.”
Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey both missed the match against Zrinjski, but Emery
is hopeful both will be able to feature against Brentford at the weekend.
“Now we are going to focus on the Premier League and on Sunday in Brentford,” Emery said.
“We are going to try and recover from the match we played tonight and with other players,
some players like Tielemans and Bailey, hopefully we can get the match on Sunday with the players ready to play.”
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