PA Media/dpa
Birmingham
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has challenged his side to start winning trophies as they continue to “break barriers.” Villa have been transformed in Emery’s two years in charge as he has taken them from a relegation battle to the Champions League.
They have also started this season superbly, enjoying their best opening to a Premier League campaign since 1998 and winning their opening two games in Europe, including a famous victory over Bayern Munich.
Emery, whose side are hoping to make it three wins from three in the Champions League at home to Bologna on Tuesday, wants his players to maintain their current level and furnish it with silverware.
“I don’t want to waste my time here, that is my message. You can’t waste your time here,” the Spaniard said.
“My objective here is to keep the same level we have now, Champions League and add more to be contenders for titles.
“This is the message, we love football, we love our work and we want to be successful.
“We want to achieve the objectives and one of them is to play in the Champions League. It is not about playing there only because of some circumstances - I want to us to stay there for a long time.
“But it is difficult. Maybe sometimes you can have some problems or struggle in our way, but you have to be resilient. We want to be strong in the idea in our mind and create a strong mentality to always break barriers.
“We can believe, working like we are doing, we can keep it. This is my challenge, this is my objective now.
“We are fourth in the Premier League, we are with two wins in the Champions League.”
