Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans makes statement ahead of Champions League opener

The Belgium international revealed Unai Emery’s ambition to take Villa back to the top level of European competition was one of the big reasons he decided to join on a free transfer after leaving Leicester in 2023.

Villa duly finished fourth in last season’s Premier League and while Tielemans acknowledged the success had perhaps come a little quicker than expected, he is eager to make the most of it.

“There were ambitious plans before I signed, that’s why I bought into it and that’s why I came to Aston Villa,” he said.

“Maybe we are ahead of schedule in terms of the project and the plan, but we’ve had some really good performances last year, we achieved fourth place in the Premier League and now we’re here so we will try to make the most of it.”

Tielemans is eager for Villa to make a strong start to the competition against Young Boys in Switzerland tonight.

He continued: “That was one of his goals when he joined the club as well and that’s how he set it out to me before signing. It was a real big goal for him to achieve.

“Now we want to carry on. We don’t only want to participate in this, we really want to make our mark in the competition.

“Hopefully we can get a win here but it will be very difficult.”

Young Boys boss Patrick Rahmen was quick to declare his team the underdogs and said they must be prepared to play with “courage”.

He said: “Villa are not an established Champions League team they are going to be hungry for the game.

“It will be very important to enjoy every game. We are going to be the underdog in this group and we are going to have to leave everything in the pitch.

“It is exciting for us but also very challenging. I am just looking forward to it. We are playing an opponent which is very strong.”