Aston Villa defeated Lille 1-0 away in the Europa League round of 16 first legs, becoming the only Premier League team out of nine in European competitions to win their match this week, following the disaster in Champions League, the 1-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest to Midtjylland in Europa League and the 0-0 draw for Crystal Palace in Conference League.
The victory also means that Emery has become the fastest manager to win 100 matches with Aston Villa after 181 games, with a club’s best ratio of 55.2%. Only two other managers were able to win over 100 matches with Aston Villa, all of them Spaniards like Emery: Pep Guardiola (137 victories) and Mikel Arteta (118 victories), but with worse win/loss ratios.
Unai Emery arrived in Aston Villa in October 2022, and has greatly improved the team, from fighting for relegation to playing in Europe, and now stand as clear favourite to win Europa League. Emery has already won this competition four times: three in a row with Sevilla (in 2013-14, 2015 and 2016), one with Villarreal in the 2020-21 campaign. He also reached the final with Paris Saint-Germain.
