Unai's Aston Villa carve themselves into legend - Europe beckons

What your beloved club has achieved just now should never be cheapened in your mind. Ever.

Aston Villa and Unai Emery have burst the seams of the Premier League's elite and stolen a place in European competition. What they have achieved is legendary. How they achieved it is even more so.

Add this to the past, the cup wins, the barnstorming league campaigns, the 1982 European Cup victory - it belongs alongside those, and doesn't cheapen any other achievements. It's not hyperbole to say this was one of the biggest days in Villa's history.

The aura of the day carried the same vibe as the momentous playoff final victory against Derby County. The air was thick with pyro and belief. There was never any doubt that the Villans would come good on their day. They delivered.

And once more, their day arrived again. "Win and you're in" against a stupidly impressive Brighton side that are pushing against the limits of existing football knowledge and know-how on their own inexplicable journey.

And while an uber-talented Roberto De Zerbi, will bask in his own accomplishments - taking Brighton into the Europa League - it truly was Villa's day.

You believed it before the match started. You knew it when Douglas Luiz opened the scoring and you certainly became adamant once Ollie Watkins doubled the lead.

Brighton stood against them, and threatened to gatekeep the glory with a professional and incisive performance. Only sheer will on behalf of Villa seemed to keep them from catching up and booting Villa out of European reckoning.

Villa fans tore at the sound levels and ripped at eardrums from the get-go. Their sound was impressive. Their belief more-so. When nerves ramped up in the six minutes of additional time, they backed a clearly exhausted John McGinn to lead by example and run the ball into nothingness. To grind it, and the clock down to dust.

It was always going to be our day, and we earned the sweetest reward. A re-entry to European competition. A debut in the Europa Conference League - a competition where victory offers a ladder up into the Europa League.

How they managed that is even more impressive than earning the place with a final day triumph. Villa were dead and buried when Emery joined. He has led them without revolutionising the club. Without tearing the script up, without pretending that Villa are something that they aren't. He chose to trust in cast-aways who have quenched a thirst at the heart of every Villa fan. That desire to be respected. That desire to not just be an also-ran in this great table of great clubs. Emery's first season at the club has brought one of its biggest success stories. Villa don't compete in the same league that they did in 1982, in 1957, in 1992 or in 2009. They must compete against political soft-power. They must compete against mind-boggling riches (despite being owned by billionaires themselves). Every player is fitter. Every coach is pushing the limit of marginal gains.

And Villa managed to turn a doom-and-gloom story into a huge success when their back was against the wall in one of the toughest sporting competitions in the world. There are no excuses in the Premier League. You win or you fall. Look at Leicester. In the worst starting circumstances available to the club, they managed to push it away and claim something special.

The story of Aston Villa, for so long has been about looking back.

Looking back on CSKA Moscow, and the doomed decision to counter a hostile environment with inexperience. Looking back on 2021, and watching the club's future sail way to the behemoth of Manchester City for £100m. Looking back at 1982, and holding it up as an unbeatable and unapproachable pinnacle. Looking back even further, and seeing the days in which Villa's name carried fear alongside respect.

It's a little kitschy, but the lion rampant on Villa's incoming badge couldn't be more appropriate, despite it stepping away from tradition.

It is looking forwards. So are we.

UTV.

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