Jakarta (ANTARA) – Aston Villa coach Unai Emery is very excited to face LOSC Lille in the quarter-finals of the European Conference League (UECL) at Villa Park, Friday (12/4) at 02.00 WIB.
“We are very excited and want to get the opportunity we have in the quarter-finals of the European Conference League,” said Emery, quoted from the club’s official website, Thursday.
“For us, it’s very important to try to focus in this way because everything we did before was to get us to the quarter-finals and try to enjoy the moment we had,” he added.
Villa qualified for the UECL quarter-finals after beating Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam in the round of 16 with a 4-0 aggregate.
Emery said the victory was a very good experience for his team, which last set foot in European competition in the 2010/2011 season.
“We played two legs against Ajax and it was a very good experience for us. “We drew there and we didn’t deserve more and at home we played consistently with personality, seriously and we won,” he said.
As was the case against Ajax, Emery said his team would not underestimate Lille because he really respects the strength of Paulo Foncesca’s children, who are currently fourth in French Ligue 1.
“Lille is the same. Respect the competition and respect your opponents. They have experience in Europe, Lille as a team. I know their president is very competitive and experienced in Europe.
After the first leg, Villa will fly to France for the second leg which will be played at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium, Thursday (18/4) at 23.45 WIB.
However, before that, Ollie Watkins and his friends will play a tough match against Arsenal in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium, Sunday (14/4) at 22.30 WIB.