Unai Emery has taken inspiration from Pep Guardiola as he makes a big change to Aston Villa’s training arrangements ahead of facing Young Boys in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
Aston Villa fans’ excitement is palpable as they prepare to watch their club in the Champions League for the first time in 41 years; when the competition was known as the European Cup.
The newly-formatted Champions League sees each side face eight different opponents in the initial league stage before those who qualify from the league progress to the knockout stages.
Villa start their European journey this season with a trip to Switzerland to face Young Boys on Tuesday evening before welcoming Bayern Munich to Villa Park for what will be an incredible first home fixture of the competition.
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Unai Emery tweaks Aston Villa training plan to combat Young Boys’ pitch
Unai Emery will fancy his side’s chances against Young Boys, with the Swiss champions theoretically one of the easier games of Villa’s eight scheduled.
However, one thing that means Young Boys present a unique challenge is that the surface at their Wankdorf Stadium is an artificial one.
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The pitch allows them to play in all conditions with temperatures often below freezing in the winter months in Switzerland, but the unfamiliar surface means that Emery has changed the plan regarding Villa’s preparations.
That is because rather than having a final training session at Bodymoor Heath ahead of flying to Switzerland to face Young Boys, Villa will take the opportunity to train on the artificial pitch today prior to Tuesday’s match.
Aston Villa can have no excuses against Young Boys
Manchester City faced Young boys in the group stages of the Champions League last season and Pep Guardiola also took the opportunity to train on their synthetic pitch ahead of the clash.
City won 3-1 in Switzerland but Guardiola expressed his frustration at the surface ahead of that game, saying: “The grass is better [than an artificial surface].
“Because 99.9% of the teams who play in high level play on grass, otherwise Uefa and Fifa would decide to play on artificial pitch. It’s common sense I would say. It is what it is.”
Guardiola also explained the decision to train on the pitch ahead of the games, saying: “If Uefa allows games to be played here it’s because it’s in good conditions. That’s one of the reasons we never train away [to ensure we have our own surface] but this is an exception.
“This is why we travel in the morning to allow the players to feel the surface – how the ball runs, how to move left, right, backwards, forwards. We will try it and the players will know immediately.”
Despite this factor, Villa simply have to beat Young Boys to give their chances of reaching the Champions League knockout phase a real boost.
Emery will eye the games against Young Boys, Bologna, Club Brugge, Monaco and Celtic as key to progression, whilst results against Bayern Munich, Juventus and RB Leipzig will likes be seen as a bonus.
Therefore, it is crucial that Villa start with a positive result in Switzerland.
