Aston Villa boss Unai Emery says his side will travel to Paris for their Champions League quarter-final first leg with confidence after racking up a seventh win in a row.
Villa beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 to boost their chances of returning to Europe’s biggest stage next season thanks to goals from Morgan Rogers and Donyell Malen in the opening 15 minutes.
They have real momentum as they set sights on a second successive year of Champions League qualification.
They could still do that by winning this year’s competition and now head to face Paris St Germain for the club’s biggest game since their European Cup quarter-final loss to Juventus in 1982.
“We are motivated. We’re excited,” former PSG boss Emery said ahead of a return to the Parc des Princes.
“They are favourites but we are going to try to play those two matches, preparing as best as possible, competing, analysing how we have to adapt to them, how we can impose and dominate with our structure tactically.
“We are very motivated to prepare those matches.
“It’s a different match to today, we are going to analyse and identify how we can face Paris St Germain. We are going to prepare two legs.
“Everything we are doing, we are analysing and trying to get better. There are a lot of things positive and a lot of things I want to check we can do better.”
Forest have aspirations of their own to be in next season’s Champions League, though they were hurt by a defeat which could have at least been a draw.
Jota Silva got them back into it in the second half but they missed a host of opportunities to level in the absence of injured strikers Chris Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi.
Asked if the result would have been different had one of those players been fit, boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “We never know. What we tried was to try and find solutions.
“But for me, football is strikers, you know what I mean. So we miss Chris and you miss ‘T’, because the way we play, the way we do things, we need a reference player.
“It’s very harsh on Anthony (Elanga) and Callum (Hudson-Odoi) and Jota (Silva) and (Roman) Sosa to do the same. It’s not the same.
“This was probably one of the matches that we created more chances. Disappointed. Disappointed, not only of the chances that we created and didn’t achieve.
“I thought the way we started the game first half, not so good, much better the second half. But the feeling is of disappointment.”
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- 2 We will see – no Unai Emery assurances over future of tearful Emiliano Martinez
- 3 Arsenal offer £135k deal to seduce target
- 4 Mikel Arteta ready to give his life to deliver silverware for Arsenal
- 5 Leyton Orient book Wembley date by beating Stockport on penalties
- 6 Chelsea beat Manchester United in FA Cup final to seal domestic treble
- 7 Mikel Arteta apologises for failing to deliver Arsenal a Premier League title
- 8 Liverpool cleared to complete signing
- 9 Brendan Rodgers hits out at ‘needless challenge’ on Reo Hatate
- 10 Marc Guehi to land transfer to Real or Barca