The China Mail - Emery focused on Villa glory, not crown of Europa League 'king'

Emery has overseen a revival in the 1982 European champions' fortunes, guiding the Premier League club to the Conference League semi-finals in 2024 and the quarter-finals of last season's Champions League.

Villa are now just one game away from lifting their first major trophy in 30 years.

Spanish boss Emery is considered something of a Europa League specialist after winning the competition three times with Sevilla and once while in charge of Villarreal.

"I am not a king in this competition," Emery said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

"I need to win tomorrow with the players we have now, with Aston Villa now, with the opponent we face tomorrow. So it's a new way, a new moment and hopefully a new era.

"I don't want to speak a lot about the things we did before.

"Now, this year, and the matches we played before in the Conference League or in the Champions League, and they are showing the capacity to play at a high level."

Emery has been a transformative figure at Villa since succeeding Steven Gerrard as manager in 2022, turning a relegation-threatened side into one that has now qualified for the Champions League in two of the last three seasons.

Villa are on the cusp of a first major trophy since winning the 1996 League Cup and Emery has urged his side, who failed to win any of their opening six matches in all competitions this season, to relish occasions such as Wednesday's final.

"This is a process. A process (for) how we could achieve, building the team and our structure," he said.

"Now it's a new experience we will have tomorrow. It's very important how we manage our emotions and we've done it for a lot of matches and there are a lot of emotions."

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