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2 hours ago
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Unai Emery has warned his Aston Villa side to respect Bologna, and the Europa League itself, if they are to continue their progress in the competition with victory over their Italian opponents.
Describing the Serie A side as “a winner team”, Emery said Villa could not be considered favourites for this quarter-final as he sought to ensure his players’ heads are in the game following the extended international break that means Villa haven’t played a competitive match since 22 March.
“To win in Europe is very, very difficult,” Emery said, speaking before the first leg which takes place on Thursday night. “Firstly you must respect this competition. Because if you are not respecting the competition, if you are not focusing 100%, you are close to being out. And I have a lot of experiences with these situations.”
Emery, of course, has won the Europa League a record four times as manager but Villa have also played Bologna in both of the past two seasons of European competition. This is the teams’ third meeting in 18 months, but the first encounter that will be played in Italy. Bologna currently sit eighth in the Serie A table and qualified from the round of 16 with a 4-3 win away at Roma.
“Bologna is a winner team, it’s a team that in the last years are playing fantastic and they are winning finals like last year [in the Coppa Italia]”, Emery said. “I have respect for them as well as knowledge about the difficulties and this round for us is a huge challenge. We are ready but we are not going to send the message that we can be favourites because after the Roma tie it is 50-50.”
Emery said he anticipated a lively atmosphere at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara. “The supporters are always so important and they will create a great atmosphere here, which will be fantastic for them,” he said. “For us, it’s going to be very difficult. Every experience we are having in Europe, playing away, is more difficult than playing at home. And tomorrow we will need to be sure of our resilience when they are trying to play intensely with the ball or without the ball to try to stop us. We must be ready to play, and try to hear the voices of our supporters in the ground.”
