Aston Villa received a favourable draw in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, avoiding Europe’s heavyweights and landing a winnable tie. With their impressive form under Unai Emery, the Villans have a strong chance of progressing further in the competition.
The draw offers them a realistic path to the quarter-finals, boosting their hopes of an extended European run.
The draw offers them a realistic path to the quarter-finals, boosting their hopes of an extended European run.
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00:00Aston Villa have impressed under Unai Emery, combining attacking flair with defensive solidity
00:08to establish themselves among Europe's elite. Their strong Premier League form has carried
00:13into Europe and after landing a favourable Champions League last-16 draw, optimism is
00:18high for a deep run. Villa have the talent to challenge at the very top. I spoke to Charlie
00:25Haffenden of Birmingham World to get the latest from the Villans.
00:56In terms of their last-16 opponents, what do you make of the draw? How will Villa fans
01:03be feeling? If they are to progress, what's the next challenge after that for Aston Villa?
01:13It's an incredibly exciting time to be an Aston Villa fan. Not one myself, but to see
01:19as a journalist the way they've progressed under Unai Emery to get to the Conference
01:22League last season, Champions League for this, and to get to the latter stages of
01:25the competition as well. So, so exciting. And they've probably had the most favourable
01:29draw out of anybody left in the competition, I'd probably argue. Club Bruges, they did
01:35play them and they lost in the league phase, but that defeat was such an unusual night.
01:40You might remember the Tyrone Mings picking up the ball and giving away a penalty.
01:44Charlie, looking at Aston Villa and their form as of late now, we'll touch on the draw
01:49against Liverpool. Champions, they are going through it a little bit at the moment in terms
01:53of their form and maybe the pressure could slightly be just getting to them, despite
01:58that sort of big gap they have at the top of the table. Obviously, the Merseyside derby
02:02draw they had as well. Aston Villa were fantastic against Liverpool at Villa Park and this is
02:09sort of something that really helps your confidence going against the champions toe-to-toe with
02:13them, hosting them at home and coming away with a point where it could have really gone
02:17either way. What was your sort of take from that game and how much sort of positivity
02:22can Union Merseyside and the fans actually take from now until the end of the season?
02:28I think it was definitely a big step in the right direction, that Liverpool game. You
02:31go into it, you think Arnaslot's team, they're too strong, they're going to go and win this
02:35one. It'll be a very difficult task to get just the point. And it was difficult, don't
02:38get me wrong, but Villa went a lot more toe-to-toe than you'd expect, especially with all the
02:43injury problems at the moment. They might have the likes of Marco Asensio and Marcus
02:47Rashford adding to their already amazing attacking options, but at the back, they're
02:51really threadbare. You know, Pau Torres being out, Matty Cash recently, Ezra Condor as well,
02:56Bhubhakar Kamara recently leaving the team through a back injury as well. A lot of Tyrone
03:01Mings is a bad player, but he's not quite the level of Pau Torres. Then Axel Desarzi
03:05only just settling in, he's not quite got the structure just right yet. Andres Garcia,
03:10inexperienced at right back, so many frailties there. And then defensive midfield, Telemans
03:15and McGinn are fantastic players, but they've had to play pretty much every minute recently
03:18and the fatigue will set in at some point. But that didn't really show against Liverpool.
03:23And there was a mistake from Garcia for the first goal that Salah scored, giving the ball
03:27away to Jota needlessly. But if it wasn't for that, I think Villa defended pretty well
03:31in that game. One mistake maybe from Mings when Nunez ran through on goal, but went toe-to-toe
03:36as I say, and it was very promising. But it is five games in a row now in the Premier
03:40League without a win. That is worrying, but it is a step in the right direction, as I
03:44say, and they can take confidence from that.
03:48Yes, there's sort of slight inconsistencies throughout the season. But if you are a Villa
03:53fan and you look at the prospects of where this season could actually turn into, the
03:59favourable tie in the FA Cup, favourable tie in the Champions League, this could be probably
04:05the most memorable season under Unai Emery, if things do go a bit more to plan than they
04:10had hoped.
04:11Quite possibly. And I think with the injuries at the moment, those players should come back
04:16by the time the favourable ties are out the way. So of course, Bruges isn't easy. Cardiff,
04:21anything can happen in the FA Cup. We know that. Plymouth beat Liverpool, for goodness
04:24sake, but a favourable tie there. Once you get through those, you're in kind of late
04:29March, April time, and then you can start thinking about having your key players back.
04:32So Villa should be in renewed strength, and I'm very confident, and the fans will be confident
04:36as well, and Emery, that they can progress in these compositions. And such an exciting
04:40end to the season. Let's hope it all goes to plan for them.