Aston Villa: Kings or kingmakers? Villa enter key run in Premier League title race
The last time Villa lifted silverware – beating Leeds 3-0 in the League Cup – Prodigy’s Firestarter had knocked Take That’s cover of How Deep Is Your Love off the No.1 spot in the charts and Wallace and Gromit’s A Close Shave had just won an Oscar.
David Beckham was yet to make his England debut while Cash, Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara and Emi Buendia were not born.
It has been a long wait, with Villa losing two FA Cup finals and one League Cup final since.
Emery, a Europa League winner with Sevilla and Villarreal in previous roles, stated on his first day in charge the main goal was to win a trophy. Last season’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to eventual winners Crystal Palace still stings.
A Europa Conference League semi-final defeat by Olympiakos 18 months ago and the thrilling Champions League quarter-final exit to Paris St-Germain in April show they are getting closer.
“The semi-final in the Conference League and Champions League quarter-final, they were big nights for us, big moments in which we haven’t delivered,” captain John McGinn told reporters.
“Every time we go into a big game now, we have that determination in the back of our heads to prove this team we have built over the past five or six years is worth more than a quarter-final, worth more than a semi-final.
“The determination, I can feel it this year. I can feel we want to prove a point. I think until we do that, there will always be questions asked. As captain, you feel that probably twice as much, but when that day finally comes, you will feel it positively, twice as much.”
