Manchester United and Newcastle were already eliminated after the group stage of the Champions League; Arsenal and Manchester City in the quarter-finals of that competition. Liverpool and West Ham lost in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, so Aston Villa remained the only representative of the Premier League in the final stages of UEFA competitions. This Thursday at 10.00 PM EAT, the team from Birmingham will welcome Olympiacos.Whoever is surprised that Aston Villa was left alone to defend the honor of arguably the best championship in Europe, they did not pay attention in class. Either that, or they missed the fact that from November 2022, Unai Emery is sitting on the Villans bench.You would have to live in a cave, without electricity or internet, to not know what the 52-year-old Spanish expert turns into when it comes to UEFA competitions. The man who even won “that irrelevant competition that is played on Thursdays” four times, i.e. Europa League. With Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and then with Villarreal in 2021.What a season Unai Emery is having at Aston Villa! 👏Is he your #PremierLeague manager of the season? 🤔Will Villa’s unbeaten European tour continue against Olympiacos? #BBCFootball #PL ##UECL #avfc pic.twitter.com/PIYvx2Zv16— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) May 2, 2024 Now Unai “Jueves” Emery (Thursday in Spanish) is on a great path to win the competition that is played only on Thursdays for the fifth time (at least until the final). Aston Villa are only three games away from the trophy, two of those could be in Athens, where the final will be played on May 29.But before all that, Emery’s team must achieve a good result in front of their fans. Olympiacos, having already reached the semi-finals, will certainly not easily give up the opportunity to play for their first Euro-trophy in front of their home fans, in their own city. In the second leg in a week’s time, the Greeks will certainly make hell for the English, so it is important for Villa to play well at home.”We are the only English team left, which is not easy because our league is the toughest in the world. We have to be 100 percent concentrated in the preparation for every game if we want to be successful both in the championship and in Europe. I don’t understand how anyone can say that we shouldn’t take European football so seriously. I want to compete against the most successful clubs in the world and that’s why both competitions are important to me,” said Emery.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Aston Villa are playing their first European semi-final since 1982. For a club that played in the Championship not too long ago, that’s a huge thing.”When I came to the club, my goal was Europe. A lot of effort has been put in to find ourselves in the Conference League and now we are enjoying it. Even when we played against teams from weaker leagues. At the beginning, we lost against Legia and drew away to Zrinjski, which we beat in the 90th minute at home. Experience has taught me that all matches on the international stage are difficult. Teams like Ajax, Lille and Olympiacos have a lot of European experience and a large number of international footballers. We respect them, we know how interesting these competitions are,” added Emery.Due to suspension and injuries, Emiliano Martinez, Alex Moreno and Youri Tielemans will not be in the competition for tonight’s match in Birmingham, but Nicolo Zaniolo has recovered from his injury.UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUESemifinals – first legThursday22:00: (1.85) Fiorentina (3.60) Club Brugge (4.80)22:00: (1.45) Aston Villa (4.70) Olympiacos (8.00)***odds are subject to change***
