Unai Emery enjoys 'champagne moment' as Aston Villa secure European qualification
A delighted Unai Emery toasted a “champagne moment” after Villa beat Brighton to seal their return to European competition.
Yesterday’s 2-1 win over the Seagulls earned Villa a place in the Europa Conference League play-off round and Emery told a rapturous home crowd it was only “the first step” in his project.
The Spaniard took charge in November when Villa sat just above the relegation zone but 15 wins from 25 Premier League matches saw them charge up the table during the second half of the campaign.
After Douglas Luiz and Ollie Watkins got the goals to send Villa back into Europe for the first time since 2010, Emery said: "Today is a champagne moment.
"When you are working and focusing week-to-week, you are not having a lot of days to celebrate something, 70 per cent of our time was spent working.
"I want to celebrate with the club, players, friends, family and I want to enjoy what we have achieved.
"It was not the first objective in this year, our progression has been fantastic. We did it and it's very important to celebrate and be happy now, to enjoy the moment in our life.”
The win also extended Emery’s own streak of managing in Europe into a 16th season.
Villa did not move into the top half of the table until a 2-0 win at Chelsea on April 1 and Emery admitted that was the moment they began to believe European qualification might be possible.
He explained: "We started thinking our progression was going well and some teams, they are not being consistent.
“When we won at Chelsea we were with them and we were in 11th for a long time. It was the most difficult step going up.
"When we were in the top 10 we started thinking about getting sixth or seventh."
Villa will need to win a two-legged play-off in August in order to qualify for the Conference League group stage.
Emery, who played in the competition at the start of the season with Villarreal, said: “I enjoy playing in Europe.
"Of course it is going to be more difficult because it means more matches and more travelling.
"But it is a big motivation for me and everybody trying to add more matches here on a Thursday at Villa Park, or travelling with our supporters.
"I think our supporters are very excited to be travelling away with us next year."
