When Aston Villa took Ajax in the Europa Conference League last season, Manager Unai Emery treated himself in a place of football tourism.
While he arrived for the press conference before the competition in the Amsterdam Arena, Emery was silent to investigate the photos on the walls. Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Dennis Bergkamp belonged to the depicted Ajax -Groten and Emery brought out his phone to take a few snaps.
The story shows why the European competition Emery's Pulse Racing is a bit faster. With four continental trophies to his name as a manager, Emery is European royalties. Yet he remains a fan.
Ask Emery about club bridges and he would probably be able to put the European history of the Belgian champions in context, to wrap names and dates of former players and memorable matches. Combine that with his wild approach to training, analysis and tactics and you have respected and feared a manager by his colleagues.
Carlo Ancelotti has lifted this trophy five times, twice with AC Milan and three times with Real Madrid. Barcelona boss Hansi Flick and Paris Saint-Germain's Luis Enrique each have one, with Bayern Munich and Barca respectively.
Although Emery has never been the last four of the Champions League, reaching that phase in 2022 with Villarreal – a club that is comparable to Brighton or Fulham in size and scale – was a highest achievement.
By the way, the four Europa League victories – three with Seville and one with Villarreal – should not be sniffed and is also not the European experience of Emery. Over the spells with Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Villarreal and Villa, he took the lead over 110 European luminaires.
“It's about controlling our emotion,” said Emery. 'This draw is an important moment for the season in this competition. We must try to play who is responsible, mature and emotionally strong. '
Emery will have performed his preparation for this fixture as soon as Villa Park left after he had looked his side in the FA Cup in the FA Cup on Friday.
Although Villa has a team of datarunchers who work with the manager, Emery is the most important analyst. He has viewed Bruges several times since his team qualified for the FA Cup Quarte final, and also took on their 1-1 draw on Ghent on Saturday on his laptop.
In combination with his analysts, Emery has prepared individual clips of the way in which Bruges attacks and defends to deliver to players in pre-match meetings. These meetings take place both on the day of the game and the day before and can last up to 90 minutes.
In the case of Bruges, Emery has the perfect archive images of how to do it. Villa came here in the competition phase here in November and produced a lifeless representation when losing 1-0.
Although the way of the defeat was tyone mings, the ball took the ball in his penalty area, in the conviction that it was not yet live, to give a spot kick-earned Bruges winners.
Villa has lost eight of their last 10 away and Emery is worried that some of his players have pulled their foot so light from the pedal.
Looking in the eyes of his team, he wants to see the hunger again who drove them from a relegation struggle to a top-four finish in less than two years under his management.
Emery's hunger is never satisfied. That is why he is straight on the laptop after every game, regardless of the result.
That is why he spends most of his awake hours on Villa's Bodymoor Heath Training Base, still at his desk when the security personnel is ready to close things for the night.
The cutting and pushing force of European Knockout Football is Emery's Happy Place. While a few owners left in the Champions League, the team of their club would exchange for Villa, much more Emery would want to be in their dugout instead of the opponents. Now it is up to the Villa players to get the best out of that asset.
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