Unai Emery Praises Aston Villa's Strong Performance Despite Late Nervous Moments Against Young Boys

Add as a preferred source on Google

Unai Emery expressed relief after Aston Villa secured a 2-1 victory over Young Boys in the Europa League, despite nearly complicating their position. Donyell Malen's two first-half goals gave Villa control, but Joel Monteiro's late strike for Young Boys almost led to a tense finish. Malen has now scored 12 goals in 19 Europa League appearances, with three for Villa.

Emery acknowledged that Villa had a challenging moment earlier in the competition when they lost to Go Ahead Eagles. He emphasised the importance of respecting every team and taking the competition seriously to avoid poor results. "We had a bad moment in this competition, losing against Go Ahead Eagles," Emery told VillaTV. "But, in this competition, if you're not respecting each team, not respecting this competition, then you can get, in some moments, a bad result."

Aston Villa have maintained an impressive home record in European competitions this year. They have won all six of their home matches in 2025 across both the Champions League and Europa League. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, they have achieved more home victories than any other club, winning 13 out of 15 games.

This latest win places Villa on 12 points in the league table, tying them with Lyon and Midtjylland for first and second place. Emery was pleased with his team's strong position as they continue to compete for an automatic qualification spot.

In their recent match against Young Boys, Villa recorded an expected goals (xG) value of 2.2 from 19 shots, with eight on target. However, they only managed to challenge Marvin Keller three times during the second half. Despite dominating much of the game, Emery noted that his team must maintain focus until the final whistle.

Reflecting on last year's performance where late goals were crucial for reaching the top eight, Emery stressed the need for consistency and ruthlessness. "Last year, we needed goals at the end to be in the top eight," he added. "And we were close to getting chances and scoring goals; we were not ruthless like we needed."

The coach highlighted that while Villa continued to dominate overall, they relaxed too much in the second half. This allowed Young Boys opportunities which led to a goal and created tension towards the end of the match.

Emery aims to instil greater consistency within his squad through player development and structural improvements. He believes that maintaining focus throughout matches is essential for achieving their competitive goals.