Champions League nights at Villa Park are always special, and Unai Emery can achieve something no other manager has done in the competition.
A mouth-watering tie with Juventus in the Champions League awaits Aston Villa.
Thiago Motta’s side are depleted by injury heading into this contest with eight players ruled out, including former midfielder Douglas Luiz.
Juventus have also named just 14 outfield players in their squad for the trip to Birmingham, and Unai Emery will take confidence in knowing that as he aims to continue his strong record in Europe’s elite competition.
Currently, the Villans are looking to bounce back from a six-match winless streak, with the Spaniard also eyeing a record no other manager has achieved.
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Unai Emery can become first manager to beat Juventus three times in the Champions League
Emery may just be one of the greatest-ever managers not to lift a Champions League trophy.
The 53-year-old won the Europa League four times during his time at Sevilla and Villarreal while his best run in this competition came in 2022, as he reached the semi-finals with Villarreal.
Emery completely overachieved during that campaign as his side were beaten by Liverpool, denying them a place in the final, but now he’s looking to continue that trend at Villa Park.
Aston Villa have won three of their first four games in this competition and currently occupy 12th position in the table.
With a victory over the Italian giants on Wednesday, the Villans could move into one of the top eight positions while Emery could become the first manager in Champions League history to beat Juventus three times.
As pointed out by Aston Villa Statto, not even some of the competition’s greatest managers, namely Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti or Pep Guardiola, have achieved such a feat.
Emery was the manager when Sevilla beat Juventus 1-0 in the 2015/16 Champions League group stage and again when Villarreal advanced into the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over the Old Lady in 2022.
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How Thiago Motta plans to stop Emery breaking Champions League record
For the Villa boss to achieve history on Wednesday night, he’ll have to overcome a Juventus side who are unbeaten in Serie A after 13 matches.
Admittedly, they have drawn seven of those games but only conceded seven times, and that suggests they could have their work cut out to break them down.
Juventus are coming up with a game plan to nullify Villa’s threats in the final third, with Motta complimentary of the danger Villa pose on the counter.
In his pre-match press conference, the Italian manager said: “Continuity of everything we have done so far. We played a good game against Milan. Tomorrow we’ll play a team who are very dangerous on the counterattack.
“We have to be solid in defence and not leave space for their trequartistas. We have to be compact and defend well. We have to use the ball well when we have it.”
