The Villans need to beat Celtic on Wednesday (29.01.25) to seal automatic qualification to the last 16 of the competition and Emery knew that his team could be competitive in their debut season in Europe's top tournament.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Emery said: "[There is] no surprise because the players have enough level to play in this competition and of course we have players with experiences in the Champions League before as well.

"Then this is the new way I want to try to have here, to be more or less consistent. It’s very difficult. But each moment, we have to use it to feel comfortable, to feel confidence.

"And then of course always to try to develop strongly in our mind, to play, competing and demanding to be in Europe, like this year, like last year, but as well with the opportunity to be protagonists.

"This is my [biggest] target I can have with the players here. Adjust it to be competitive and be protagonists, playing against teams in Europe, with different levels of course, but facing them and playing individually and collectively in good performances, and more or less with the possibility to beat the teams we are facing."

Villa enjoyed a memorable win over Bayern Munich back in October and the coach says it is results such as that which will help the team become a force on the continent.

He said: "You firstly have to get in your mentality how much effort you have to put in to be competitive and to have the possibility to beat a team like Bayern Munich in 90 minutes.

"And rarely is the moment you can feel you are not favourite, but football can give you one chance, one chance to compete.

"Maybe, you have to defend more than normal and you have to be strong as well in your box, defending crosses, defending individual actions, even the goalkeeper being more successful than normal.

"But this is [what it means] to be a protagonist."