Unai Emery 'sold me' Champions League project, now we need to make a mark on it - Youri Tielemans
Updated 17/09/2024 at 11:25 GMT+1
Youri Tielemans said that Aston Villa playing Champions League football was part of the project that Unai Emery sold him when signing for the club in 2023, and is ecstatic to witness European football in the Claret and Blue for the first time. The Belgian, who famously debuted in the competition aged 16 for Anderlecht, is eager for the club to make their mark.
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Youri Tielemans is excited at the prospect of Aston Villa's UEFA Champions League campaign, as part of the ongoing project that he said Unai Emery sold to him upon his transfer to the club last season.
The 27-year-old, who still holds the record for the youngest Belgian to play in the competition when he debuted for Anderlecht in 2013, joined the club in 2023 after four years at Leicester.
Neither he nor manager Emery expected the club to secure Champions League football for this season, and even reaching last year's Conference League semi-final was a surprise.
But the Belgian is delighted and invigorated to return to playing amongst Europe's elite.
"The manager was selling me this idea of playing Champions League and I really bought into it," Tielemans said. "And that's one of the reasons I signed. The fact that we got the Champions League after my first year here is earlier than expected, but the fact that we are here means that we're doing well and we need to carry on in this way.
Villa have several daunting but exciting fixtures ahead of them in in the competition this season, with trips to Monaco and Leipzig on the schedule, as well as European powerhouses Juventus and Bayern Munich both heading to Villa Park. Their campaign begins on Wednesday evening when they kick off against Swiss outfit Young Boys on, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
While Tielemans has witnessed European nights since he was 16, much of Villa's squad is inexperienced in this regard and will be calmed by Emery's huge stature and impressive record in Europe.
The Spaniard has become a European specialist, providing remarkable consistency in the Europa and Conference League competitions over his career, and giving himself a special status by winning four Europa League titles, more than any other coach.
"He improves you as a player. I think his tactical analysis of the game is just first-class," Tielemans added. "He can really sell it to you, like I said he sold me his project. The fact that he can do that on the footballing stage is what we want as footballers and that's what is really exciting about him.
Villa's qualification will have come as a surprise as much as it did internally as it did externally. Both Tielemans and Emery have admitted as much, but the group are hell-bent on using their opportunity to create something special over the campaign.
"The achievement we got last year of being fourth in Premier League, it's big and it's very hard to do," the midfielder explained. "Now we're playing Champions League football, which is a big achievement for us as a club, as a group. So we really want to do something big here.
"Obviously we've got really good players, we've got a good squad and everyone's ready to perform and hopefully everyone is going to be performing well on the night.
"Our ambitions should be to try and push ourselves, to make a mark on this competition and see where we go. We want to pick up as many points as possible."
The club are also part of the debut of the competition's new format, where 36 clubs will participate in the league phase.
"It's different. Obviously now every game matters," Tielemans added. "It's basically a sort of league where you want to qualify straight away and be in the first eight, but on the other hand, its very hard to pick as many points as you used to do before.
"There are a lot more teams involved as well, it's gonna be hard to pick up many points. We have different opponents as well, so it's always a different kind of football that you're playing against, so we'll have to adapt quickly from one game to another.
"Every chance you get you've got to put it in because it can go really fast. That's football, that's life, especially in the Champions League = the biggest club competition in Europe. It's going to be very hard."
TNT Sports will show over 500 matches from the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League across the 2024-25 season. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination.
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