Unai Emery sets Arsenal and Liverpool target as Aston Villa prepare for Bayern Munich
Aston Villa will welcome Bayern Munich to Villa Park in the Champions League next week, with manager Unai Emery having high ambitions for this team
by Mike Walters · The MirrorUnai Emery cannot wait to take on Bayern Munich after being hit by a Suffolk sucker punch at Portman Road.
Villa were pegged back by two-goal Tractor Boys striker Liam Delap in a thriller - and now they have 48 hours to prepare for a momentous Champions League date on Wednesday night.
Asked if Villa could summon the energy for a litmus test in Europe after being given a chasing at promoted Ipswich, head coach Emery laughed: “No, we’ll call it off!
“Do we want to play in Europe? What do we want? We want to play on a Sunday and Wednesday, and reach the same level as Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.
“It’s not easy, but if you don’t want it, we can get comfortable in the top 10 if that is enough.”
Delap’s equaliser 18 minutes from time bagged a deserved point for Ipswich - still without a win but now with four draws in a row - and Emery was unhappy with his side’s second-half display.
He said: “I am not happy with the point but I have to accept it because I think it is fair. I wanted us to finish strongly and we didn’t do that.
“We were better in the first half, the second half we lost our concentration and the consequences happened because they scored and they could have scored one more.”
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna said: "We created the better chances, but when you come back from 2-1 down a point is a good result. Four games unbeaten and we just need to keep going.
“The only two teams to beat us are Man City and Liverpool in the first two weeks when we where coming together as a group. We are doing a lot of the right things.”
McKenna praised Delap, adding: “He can be proud of the impact he has had and his all-round play.
“He has shown he can impact the game and to have so much growth left in him, we are rally happy to have him here.”
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