Following four years of unprecedented success in the Aston Villa dugout, Unai Emery's side head to the famous Camp Nou for a UEFA Champions League tie against FC Barcelona.
Rewind to 10 years ago and Aston Villa were preparing for a match against Blackburn Rovers in the Championship - ultimately finishing 13th in the second tier that season.
Even just five years ago - one season before Emery was appointed - and the Villans were in the middle of what would be a five-game losing streak in the Premier League, that would ultimately see cult hero manager Dean Smith dismissed.
Imagine telling even the most optimistic Villa fan at either of those time periods that in November 2026 they would be following their club to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League and - even more outlandish - that it would feel normal. You'd be laughed out of Villa Park faster than if you turned up in a royal blue kit.
However, that improbability has been made reality by one man. Unai Emery.
Promising arrival and ending a decade-long European hiatus
With the Villans languishing in 16th place on just nine points from 11 matches and scoring just seven goals to that point, the extremely unpopular Steven Gerrard was hounded out of the club.
Aaron Danks - now filling in for the absent Vincent Kompany as Bayern Munich manager - steadied the ship slightly, winning 4-0 against Brentford and losing 4-0 at Newcastle, before the Villans - led by owner Nassef Sawiris - announced the ambitious appointment of Unai Emery.
In his first press conference as Villa boss, the then-four-time Europa League winner said he had two dreams for his time in the West Midlands. The first was to win a trophy, the second was to play in Europe with the Villans.
He would achieve the second of those just seven months into his Villa career, with a 2-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on the final day of the season securing a route into the UEFA Conference League in Emery's first season.
That doesn't quite tell the full story of the miraculous turnaround displayed by the Spaniard, who not only achieved unprecedented results at Villa Park which saw them display title-winning form for parts of the season, but he also instilled a completely new style of football at Villa Park, referencing the need to coach the crowd as much as the players.
This was magnified in the microcosm of a three-match losing run against Manchester City, Arsenal and Leicester City, which saw the Villa crowd begin to groan at the slower, possession-based football.
By the end of the campaign, with the Villans finishing seventh in the table and back in continental competition, those groans and complaints were long since forgotten.
Returning sleeping giants back to the top European table
The 2023/24 season saw Aston Villa get off to a flying start, breaking the club record for most points after 10 Premier League games, as they attempted to balance European football and their domestic commitments.
Adaptation to the UEFA Conference League - which was harder in its original format than it is today - proved difficult, with the Villans failing to win any of their first seven matches that followed their Thursday night exploits.
The Villans also needed a last-minute John McGinn winner to secure their first European triumph in over a decade, having lost their opening match away at Legia Warsaw.
Still, the Villans had a sensational first half of the season, culminating in back-to-back 1-0 wins over both Manchester City and Arsenal at Villa Park, to put themselves in the title conversation.
Emery continued to play down any title chances at that stage of the season, as he navigated significant expectation changes and injury issues. The Villans ultimately missed the chance to be top of the Premier League at Christmas and New Year due to a 1-1 draw with soon-to-be-relegated Sheffield United.
The injury woes carried on throughout the campaign, but the Villans ultimately crawled over the line at the end of the season to cement a fourth-place finish in the Premier League and a miraculous return to the UEFA Champions League - their first appearance amongst Europe's elite in four decades.
Emery's side would ultimately fall short of ending their then-28-year trophy drought that campaign, however, being dismantled in the UEFA Conference League semi-finals by eventual winners Olympiacos.
UEFA Champions League quarter finals and a season of ultimate heartbreak
Heading into the 2024/25 season, the Villans were full of hope and expectation for their first campaign back in the UEFA Champions League, as they looked to prove they belonged back on the biggest stage.
They had a slower start to the season than that of the year before, still winning three of their opening five league matches, but their season would ultimately be summed up by a three-game spell between 29th September and 6th October.
Emery's side suffered back-to-back draws against two struggling sides in Ipswich Town and Manchester United, either side of a famous and sensational 1-0 win over Bayern Munich in their first UEFA Champions League home match since 1983.
The win over the German giants perfectly summed up everything good about the Villans under Emery, with a strong defensive base coupled with moments of ball-playing class. Add in a wonder-goal from Jhon Duran and key saves from two-time Yashin Trophy winner Emiliano Martinez, they sealed a historic victory.
Emery would ultimately help his side to compete on three fronts that season, aided by the January arrivals of Donyell Malen, Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford.
Aston Villa would suffer the first of three heartbreaks that season in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals, in which the Villans fought back from 5-1 down on aggregate to ultimately lose 5-4 to the eventual winners. Emery's side were a couple of world-class Gianluigi Donnarumma saves and a last-minute Nuno Mendes goal line clearance away from taking the now-back-to-back UCL winners to extra time and potentially reaching the semi-finals.
The second would arrive just 11 days later, with the Villans failing to turn up at all in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, ultimately losing 3-0 to eventual cup winners Crystal Palace in a dismal display.
Emery's final heartbreak that season came on the final day of the campaign, with a controversial disallowed Morgan Rogers goal playing a key role in a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United, which meant that Aston Villa missed out on a spot in the UEFA Champions League for the 2025/26 season on goal difference.
As I'm sure you're already aware - or about to find out - this would turn out to be a blessing rather than a curse by the end of the next campaign.
Overall, the 2024/25 season served to prove that the Villans' form and UEFA Champions League qualification was no flash in the pan and that as long as Emery was in the dugout, Aston Villa were here to stay as a European force.
That night in Istanbul and a return to the elite
Arguably the hardest and most tumultuous period of Unai Emery's tenure to date, the start of the 2025/26 season had players, pundits and fans alike worried that the Emery project was nearing an underwhelming conclusion.
However, like he has done not just at Villa but throughout his entire career, Unai Emery extracted the extra 10 or 20% from his players, who had seemingly gone stale.
For the first time in this article - and unfortunately out of pure necessity - financial regulations will be mentioned. Sorry.
Emery, to that point, had circumnavigated the various rules and regulations that had heavily hamstrung his ability to build on the levels of success he had achieved throughout his Villa tenure.
In each of the summers under his stewardship, the Villans had sold at least one key player and failed to replace them with an investment of the same level.
So much so, that at the time of writing Emery has a net spend of just €50.57m across his four years. That averages out to just over €6m per transfer window that he has overseen.
For context that is less than all of Leeds United, Coventry City, Hull City, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham and Ipswich Town - who all spent seasons outside of the top-flight in that period - as well as Championship sides Birmingham City and Burnley.
Furthermore, if you focus purely on the period from Emery's first summer window to the present day, both Portsmouth and Derby County - who spent time in League One - have higher net spends than Villa's €19.57m. That is just insane.
This makes it all the more impressive that in 2025/26, Emery was able to finally end the Villans' 30-year wait for a trophy - and 44-year wait for a European one - by lifting the UEFA Europa League in Istanbul.
Goals from Youri Tielemans, Emiliano Buendia and Rogers gave Emery's side a comprehensive 3-0 win over Freiburg in the final, as Emery won his fifth Europa League title as a manager.
The Villans earned a place back in the UEFA Champions League through their Europa League win, but this wasn't even required, as Emery masterminded a second 4th place finish in three seasons to confirm their place back in the top European competition before a ball had been kicked in the Europa League final.
Having started extremely poorly, failing to win any of their first five games of the season and scoring no goals in that time, the 2025/26 season goes down as one of Villa's greatest ever, especially with the mitigations of the financial handcuffs that the Spaniard had been working under.
Squad decimation and transfer revolution
Following a season of celebration last term, Villa headed into the summer transfer window full of hope that their ageing squad could finally be given some reinforcements.
This was affirmed by their hijacking of Newcastle's attempts to sign World Cup breakout star Johan Manzambi from Freiburg, stirring great excitement amongst the Villa faithful.
However, over the course of the summer, Villa lost no less than five of their starters on that famous night in Istanbul, with Rogers, Tielemans, Martinez, Ollie Watkins, and Ezri Konsa all departing for a combined €365m.
Those departures spilled over into the new season, culminating in a 4-0 defeat on the opening day against Brighton, with Watkins refusing to play in the match in an attempt to force a move, leaving Emery without a striker to select in the process.
Things did pick up in the transfer market though, with Aston Villa securing the services of Joao Gomes, Leon Goretzka, Matteo Ruggeri, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Alejandro Garnacho and long-term targets Nicolas Jackson, Zion Suzuki and Ibrahim Mbaye for a combined €300m.
While it was speculated that Emery might be disillusioned by the departures and squad overhaul thrust upon him, reports out of Villa Park from various journalists confirmed the contrary. The new youth and energy in the squad has given the Spaniard a new lease of life as Villa boss.
Emery has once again extracted the best out of his players, turning things around significantly and sitting second in the UEFA Champions League table ahead of the trip to Barcelona.
While the Camp Nou is a large, famous and intimidating ground to play at, Emery has formed a culture within the dressing room and on the terraces that breeds confidence and a feeling of belonging.
With the mainstream media seemingly set on playing down Aston Villa's recent achievements whilst simultaneously pushing the narrative that their inspirational manager should take over at the biggest club in the country, Emery has instilled a no-excuses culture within his playing staff, who will be determined to prevent outside noise from impacting their performances on the pitch.
To many outside the club, Aston Villa head to one of Europe's biggest and best sides as heavy underdogs, but - to their manager and those within the four walls at Villa Park - the Villans will face Barcelona as those who belong on the greatest footballing stage.
Unai Emery's Aston Villa career in numbers
Matches | 211 |
Wins | 116 |
Draws | 37 |
Losses | 58 |
Win Percentage | 55% |
Trophies | 1 |
Premier League Finishes | 7th, 4th, 6th, 4th |
Transfer Spend | €776m |
Transfer Sales | €725.43m |
Net Spend | €50.57m |
