Champions League: ‘The guy is a genius’ – Unai Emery helps Aston Villa’s dreams come true

Mike Taylor, BBC Radio WM reporter

Football clubs are all about history – a club’s history is one of the main reasons why their fans care so much about it. Villa’s history weighs heavier than most. Specifically, for modern Villa players, there is 1982, an achievement that fills their supporters with pride, but sets a mighty yardstick by which their successors are matched.

Equalling that really would be something extraordinary, but the fact that Villa have returned to this level sets the current cohort of players – and of course their manager – apart from all the others who have followed the European Cup winners. The competition, after all, has changed since then in almost every respect, up to and including its name. Being back in Europe at all last year was a pleasant surprise at the time, and it meant a lot to fans. It matters to be in Europe, and being in the bigger competition now matters more.

But it’s not enough for everyone. Witness Emery, with his team leading 3-0 and obviously in total command, flapping and fussing over tiny details in the final minutes. Just being here will not do for him, and the demands he makes of his players and by extension his club remind everyone who deals with him of that, every day. Listening to the players speak, that feeling is clearly infectious.

How far that energy can carry them in the Champions League is hard to gauge in Bern tonight, but after the next game, against Bayern Munich in two weeks’ time, we’ll know more.