Aston Villa manager Unai Emery says his club has much respect for the Europa League competition as the English Premier League side inches closer to securing a spot in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Villa beat Lille 1-0 in France with Ollie Watkins scoring the game’s sole goal in the 61st minute in the first leg of the round of 16 stage.
The win comes ahead of a crucial stretch for Villa who take on Manchester United on Sunday, March 15 and the second leg clash against Lille on Thursday, March 19 but Emery says despite the high demands of the EPL, his team respects Europe’s second tier tournament.
“We respect this competition because we know the difficulties of each match away from home in Europe.”
“We know how it is for the English teams, like this week in the Champions League, how they were struggling” he said according to the BBC.
Aston Villa rank fourth in the league standings tied on 51 points with third ranked Man United.
