Unai Emery acknowledged that Aston Villa still have room for improvement following their 0-3 loss to Barcelona. The Spaniard called for the team to be more self-critical, particularly in their finishing.
Villa arrived at Camp Nou on the back of three consecutive victories in the Champions League, but they conceded a goal to Lamine Yamal in the seventh minute.
In the second half, Raphinha added a brace, completing the emphatic defeat.
Emery, however, refused to place the blame for the first goal on Joao Gomes, who struggled under pressure after a pass from Zion Suzuki:
Joao Gomes started the match not very confidently on the ball, and it’s not just about that mistake. But it’s part of our style, so I do not blame him.
We need that kind of experience. It was a good lesson for him at the highest level—to understand how intensely the opponent presses.
The intensity was incredible. We have been working together for four years, and in the past, we have made similar mistakes and always tried to overcome them and get better.
We know that this style brings success, so we must embrace these challenges and progress.
Emery identified a lack of cutting edge in attack as the main problem:
In the Premier League, we also play against teams at the level of Barcelona, but this is a different league, a different country, and it is a very good test of the level we want to reach and compete at.
Today we did not achieve the level we wanted, but we gained a lot of food for thought, a lot of experience for the players, and a lot of information for me to analyse and try to compete at that level in the coming months.
Overall, we are performing excellently in the Champions League and have accumulated nine points.
But today’s match showed us that we still have work to do to match that level.
In some periods, we were close and created chances, but we need to be more demanding of ourselves in their execution.
The score of 0-3 looks harsher than the game itself, but we accept this defeat and have gained a lot of information from it.
Aston Villa captain John McGinn also acknowledged that the team received a serious lesson:
Barcelona made the right decisions at the right times and scored some very good goals.
The coach spoke about how important it is to remain calm in key moments. When you come here, 50-50 situations sometimes don’t go your way.
Moreover, they leave players high, so upon losing the ball, they can break forward immediately.
I believe we are capable of competing with teams of this level. We have already shown this against Bayern Munich and PSG.
Today we received a huge lesson, and I am confident it will help us in the future.
Aston Villa’s next match will be in the Premier League against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
