Unai Emery's football revolution and his 'Spanish' Aston Villa

Unai Emery, the 'Maestro', has done it once again but this time in the British Premier League! Emery's 'Spanish' Aston Villa is back in European competitions 12 years later! The local Birmingham club has finished first in their UEFA Conference League group and has three titles on the line!

"The Spanish coach may have not won a treble, like Guardiola, but he has done an impressive job with Aston Villa, transforming a relegation-threatened team into title contenders," wrote Mark Doyle for GOAL on Unia Emery's impact.

According to Teamtalk, Aston Villa finished their 2023 with a bang, after 14 consecutive Premier League wins, equalling the club record for consecutive home victories in the league (previously done in 1931 and 1903)!

When Emery joined Villa back in the 2022 season. The Spanish coach reorganized the team and managed to finish the 2022 season in 7th place (climbing up from 16th). A rejuvenated playing style alongside some innovative tactics has taken Aston Villa back to the top, currently sitting 4th in the league!

Monchi has been a key figure as the head sporting director at Aston Villa. He made some important signings such as Moussa Diaby, Pau Torres, Kosta Nedeljkovic, and Zaniolo.

Torres is one of Emery's central pillars in defense. With 18 appearances so far this season, the Spanish center-back is doing great numbers in the back with Ezri Konsa.

Further up the pitch, Jamaican international Leon Bailey has enjoyed a great spell of football! He scored a decisive goal against Manchester City earlier in the 2023/24 season to secure some important points for Villa. 

Strategically, Emery is known for trying to instill a sense of freedom in his players, a system where they can look for opportunities offensively as they appear while operating out of a 4-4-2 formation which most players are familiar with from its ubiquity in world football.

Emery is a native of Spain’s Basque Country and was raised in a football environment. His grandfather was Antonio “Pajarito” or “little bird” Emery, who lifted two Copa del Rey trophies with Real Union Club de Irun in 1924, beating Real Madrid, and in 1928, beating Arenas Club

Interestingly, Unai Emery is now one of the main owners of Real Union Club de Irun, who now play in Spain’s third division, the Primera Federacion.

Unai Emery’s father, Juan Emery continued the Emery goalkeeping legacy, playing a long, 16-year career in La Liga from 1951-1967. Juan Emery featured for sides such as his father’s Real Union Club de Irun, Depor de Coruña, Granada CF and Alaves.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Unai played as a professional player, playing left mid for teams like Real Sociedad, Deportivo Leganes, and the team he retired as a player from, Lorca Deportivo Club de Futbol.

In 2004-2005, During his last year as a player for Lorca, the team was playing very poorly and sacked their manager, and, in need of a new coach, Lorca’s club president offered the head coach position to Emery, who was a player albeit had been injured for several months with an injured knee.

Emery immediately stepped in as manager, and turned around their season completely, securing promotion to the second tier of Spanish football, and the subsequent 2005-06 campaign, Emery’s Lorca came within two points of another promotion in back-to-back seasons to reach the first division.

After a stint with AD Almeria, seeing them promoted to Spain’s first division, he joined Valencia, and despite two great finishes in La Liga, he was jeered by fans for unsatisfactory results in the Champions League, precipitating a falling out with the club, and after a very short stint managing Spartak Moscow, he was back in Spain to manage Sevilla.

While at Sevilla, Emery began to distinguish himself, despite starting the season tied for last place, in his second season with Sevilla in 2013-14, Emery and Sevilla would beat Benfica in penalties to secure his first piece of European silverware, the Europa League, while finishing 5th in La Liga.

He would go on to lead Sevilla to Europa League champions again in 2015, and for a third consecutive time in 2016, an unprecedented string of success for the Andalusian side.

From Sevilla to Paris. His time there would prove to be a mixed bag, as they secured a League Cup, the French Super Cup, and the French Cup, but was not re-signed after his second year after failure in the Champions League.

In 2018 he joined Arsenal as manager and had a large task ahead of him as he had to fill the shoes of Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger. While he led them to a Europa League final, they still lost to cross-city rivals Chelsea. Starting off 2019 on an off foot, he was sacked after loosing their first 9 games. 

July 2020 marked his return to coaching as he returned to Spain to coach Villareal, and he successfully led the team to a tremendous upset to beat Manchester United to secure the team’s first-ever Europa League, and Unai Emery his fourth.

This victory officially made him the most successful coach in Europa League history, passing Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who won three, however with much larger teams, namely Juventus twice, and Inter Milan once. Is this the begging of a golden era at Aston Villa?