Unai Emery expressed his thoughts on facing Bologna in the Europa League quarterfinals.
Aston Villa have twice defeated the Serie A side on their turf, winning 2-0 in the Champions League in October 2024 and 1-0 on the opening matchday of their continental campaign in September 2025.
‘They are a team that want to play duels’
Vincenzo Italiano was the head coach of the Rossoblu for both encounters, and he remains in charge of the club for this clash. Emery knows what to expect tactically from this battle on Thursday.
“Those two matches we played in Villa Park, how we knew Bologna is the same. How we play tomorrow will be more or less the same style.
“They are so, so intense and aggressive in their tactical idea, collectively getting a lot of duels. We’ve used our information from playing against them to try and understand how the match will go.
“Respecting the Europa League competition and Bologna as a team, I know how much difficulty there will be in this round for different reasons. The first thing we can look at is they beat Roma, and they deserved to beat Roma. They are competing with this coach, and he played three finals in the last three years.
“He’s very competitive in the knockout rounds in Europe, he played two finals in the Conference League in a row with Fiorentina, losing but playing two finals against West Ham and Fiorentina. Last year, the final of the cup in Italy they won. This is the argument that we must respect them a lot.
“In Italy there are a lot of teams, as we played before against Bologna and in Spain against Atalanta, that play so, so clearly and consistently, winning so many duels.
“They are a team that want to play getting duels. To impose our positioning and tactical structure is not going to be easy, it’s going to be difficult. We must adapt – to compete is to adapt of the opponent and what they are demanding from us. We are working, remembering with the players how we played against them, showing them movies about us and them, practicing in the training session, tactically.”
‘To win in Europe is difficult’
Emery is a highly experienced figure on this stage. He lifted the Europa League trophy three times on the spin between 2014 and 2016 with Sevilla before beating Arsenal and Manchester United on the way to the title with Villarreal in 2021. So, he respects the task of taking Villa to the same goal.
“Tomorrow is going to be a very great challenge for the players and for me as a coach how we can play 90 minutes against Bologna, performing very well.
“Tomorrow is going to be different because playing in Villa Park they were not playing with their supporters. Some supporters travelled there but we were with more supporters.
“How they are creating a great atmosphere here is going to be fantastic for them. We will have our supporters travelling to be here with us, but they are more than us.
“Tactically, it’s not going to change a lot because they are playing the same at home and away. Even the results are similar when playing at home and away. But for us, it’s going to be very difficult. Every experience we’ve had playing away in Europe has been difficult, more difficult than playing at home.
“Tomorrow we are ready, we are focused, trying to set our game plan and trying to continue in our build, individually and collectively.”
“Aston Villa has a massive history in a lot of things, and one remarkable moment was when Aston Villa won the European Cup. It’s something that makes us feel responsible and that we’re in a club that was successful in Europe.
“Individually, I’m feeling comfortable during the years, and thankful for the teams I was coaching with the possibility to win this title or in the Champions League or Conference League.
“Each moment is a different challenge. Everything we did before is done and to do it again is the challenge we have. Every day with the players and with Villa is to build something for the history of the club. To win in Europe is very, very difficult.”