Guillem Balagué has delivered a fascinating assessment of how Unai Emery has completely transformed Aston Villa.
- Emery has guided a club in European football for 17 consecutive seasons without exception
- Balagué reveals the 53-year-old showed players two hours and 15 minutes of footage before the Bologna second leg
- The journalist traces Villa’s journey from 17th place in October 2022 to Europa League semi-finalists
- Balagué identifies culture and perspective, not tactics, as the real secret behind Villa’s rise
Seventeen seasons. A record nobody can match
Guillem Balagué’s opening observation about Emery is as simple as it is staggering.
The respected football journalist and author notes that the Basque tactician has guided a club into European competition in every single season he has been in charge from the outset: 17 consecutive campaigns without exception.
Four Europa League titles, a Champions League semi-final with Villarreal, and now a Europa League semi-final with Villa.
“Find me another manager who can say that,” Balagué challenges, and the answer is telling in its silence. Nobody can. European football is not simply a destination for Emery.
As Balagué puts it with characteristic precision, it is simply home.
The preparation that produced a 7-1 demolition
One of the most revealing details in Balagué’s assessment concerns the morning of Villa’s Bologna second leg.
On the day of a game Villa were expected to win comfortably, Emery showed his squad one hour and 15 minutes of footage from the Lille home game, followed by 60 minutes from the Bologna first leg.
That meticulous preparation produced a 4-0 victory that completed a dominant 7-1 aggregate triumph.
“What might have seemed a stroll in the park was the result of meticulous preparation,” Balagué notes against a Bologna side that had lost just three of their 14 European games this season.
All three defeats came against Emery’s Villa. That detail alone explains everything about the manager’s standards and methodology.
The rollercoaster. Honestly told
Balagué does not shy away from the difficulties of this season. Three points from the first five games. A period of six defeats in 12 matches. Home reverses against Everton, Brentford, and Chelsea that temporarily dismantled Villa Park’s fortress reputation.
The journalist traces the full arc, from the 12-game winning run that hauled the club from 18th to 3rd, through the injury-driven collapse, to the Europa League quarter-final triumph that has restored belief.
“No season is all plain sailing,” Balagué acknowledges. “Being a top-level coach means spending 24 hours a day looking for solutions, win or lose.”
That observation reflects a manager who experiences every moment with complete emotional investment as Sunday’s exhausted post-match admission demonstrated perfectly.
The secret: culture, perspective and shared memories
Balagué’s most profound observation concerns what actually drives Villa’s success. It is not tactics, nor individual quality. It is something far harder to manufacture and far easier to lose.
“The secret of this Villa side is to be found somewhere else,” he writes. “The key is to be ever demanding yet also be able to appreciate where you are, how far you have come.”
Emery himself captures it most simply, describing his role as building memories “like a kid does a castle with Lego pieces. One on top of the other. And the more shared experiences, the stronger the building gets.”
From Zrinjski Mostar to Bayern Munich. From 17th place to Europa League semi-finalists. The building gets stronger every week.
From relegation candidates to european contenders
When Emery walked through the doors in October 2022, Villa sat one point above the relegation zone.
Today, Nottingham Forest are the only obstacle between the club and their first European final in 44 years.
Balagué’s conclusion is as elegant as it is accurate and no Villa supporter should read it without feeling genuinely proud.
