Champions: Emery says respects Bologna, Italiano

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 21 - Aston Villa boss Unai Emery said ahead of Tuesday night's clash with Bologna at Villa Park that he had the utmost respect for the Emilians and coach Vincenzo Emiliano, recalling that the Karlsruhe-born manager had led Fiorentina to two straight Conference League finals.
    Under the Basque coach, who has led the Villans since 2022, the Birmingham outfit got into the European top flight competition for the first time since they played as reigning champions in 1983 and have now enjoyed their best start to the domestic league season since 1998-99, third on equal points with Arsenal in the Premier League, with 17 points in 8 games.
    They also have full points in the Champions League, thanks to victories over Young Boys and Bayern Munich, after a repeat of their historic 1982 1-0 European Cup final triumph over the Bavarians in Rotterdam.
    "Bologna have been successful in the last year and have a great history in Italy. They have played great with Thiago Motta (now Juve boss, ed.), but now they have a coach who has played in the last two Conference League finals".
    But Villa are building solid foundations to aim high, Emery insisted.
    "We believe we can compete: I don't know how far we will get, but right now we are here in a good position in the Champions League and the Premier League. "We want to build something important.
    "This is the message I am sending to the players and that the boys have made their own.
    "This is the way we love football, we love our job and we want to be successful.
    "We want to realize a dream.
    "One of these was to play in the Champions League. "But now we are here not only to play, we want to be here to compete and we want to confirm ourselves among the greats for a long time".
    (ANSA).