It’s a long road to the final, but Villa can feel confident of a good start away at Legia Warsaw on Thursday. No wonder Aston Villa are widely regarded as the pre-tournament favourites to lift the trophy in May. Unai Emery has won the Europa League four times with two different clubs (Sevilla and Villarreal), reached the final with Arsenal in 2018/19 and was a Champions League semi-finalist with Villarreal in 2021/22. They are long overdue a proper European run and surely have the perfect manager with which to do it as they enter the UEFA Europa Conference League, which is now in its third season. In fact, since reaching the European Cup quarter-finals in 1983, Villa have appeared in Europe only nine times – and failed to get past the second round in eight of those.

They have not been in a European competition proper since 2009, when Martin O’Neill fielded a reserve team for a knock-out match against CSKA Moscow that, when lost, was widely seen as the beginning of the end of his tenure. Since winning the European Cup in 1982 Aston Villa’s record on the continent has been underwhelming, and a source of consternation to their supporters. Legia Warsaw's last result: 1-1 draw with Piast Gliwice His players will relish a match like this and, well-rested and in front of a raucous home crowd, will anticipate an explosive performance to start their European adventure with a bang. In fact, they have arguably one of the deepest squads in the competition, or at least that’s the conclusion we must draw from a 3-1 victory at Old Trafford in which De Zerbi made six changes to his starting line-up, only one of which ( Solly March) being enforced through injury.Įxtra energy in the legs is an important advantage given Brighton’s high-octane and tactically demanding football – and especially when faced with opponents like Matias Almeyda’s AEK Athens, whose 1-1 draw with Olympiacos last weekend continued their unbeaten start to the Super League season.Ī Marcelo Bielsa disciple, Almeyda preaches ultra-hard pressing football in the manic, man-to-man style we used to see at Leeds United, which should make for a frenetic match at the Amex Stadium that ultimately plays into Brighton’s hands.ĭe Zerbi likes to use possession to lure the other team forward before sprinting quickly behind the press. Brighton & Hove Albion September 20, 2023 Nevertheless, Brighton are in a very strong position and, unlike Shakhtar moving from Ukrainian football to the Champions League, their players are used to facing Europa League quality domestically. But they won only two points from those four matches, while they were far too expansive and attack-minded in a 5-0 loss at home to Real Madrid. They held plenty of possession against Sheriff in both matches, with 74.7 per cent and 68.7 per cent, and against Internazionale Milano, with 57.9 per cent and 65.9 per cent. Worryingly for Brighton fans, Shakhtar played typical De Zerbi-ball that year and were unpicked on the break. He has managed in Europe only once before, with Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2021/22 Champions League, when an unexpected 2-0 defeat at FC Sheriff on Matchday One set the tone for a winless campaign and bottom place in the group.

Roberto De Zerbi knows the pitfalls of a slow start. According to UEFA’s coefficient rankings, Brighton start at home against the weakest team in their group, AEK Athens, so anything less than victory would put the hosts in an uncomfortable position. In the context of the group, it is a must-win encounter. See: One year of De Zerbi: How he's transformed Brighton This is a club used to punching above their weight, and after another strong start in the Premier League supporters are rightly optimistic about their prospects this week. Brighton & Hove Albion v AEK AthensĪEK Athens' last result: 1-1 draw with Olympiacosīrighton & Hove Albion have never played European football before but there is no reason why their inexperience should count against them. Alex Keble looks at the key talking points as four Premier League clubs start their group stage matches in the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League and Europa Conference League.

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