“Firstly, we want to respect the competition and then respect Zrinjski as well. We also want to play competitively and try to increase, individually and collectively, our process as a team.

“And tomorrow, we are here with the players who are available to play. I’m going to share as well because some players can feel tired, and I will decide tomorrow morning, but my idea at the beginning is try to play being competitive.

“With players playing regularly and with another maybe who is not playing a lot of minutes, I want to try to build and try to create a strong structure in our squad.

“Tomorrow is a very good opportunity for someone to try to play and get minutes, get confidence and prepare for this season in different competitions being very competitive, like we are doing at the moment.

“Playing in Europe is always difficult, we played against Legia Warsaw in the first match and we lost, we played against Zrinjski in the second match at home and we were struggling until the last moment, winning the match in the last minute. And those are the experiences I had before.

“But, for me, it’s amazing to be here. It’s my first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Mostar, and it’s a new experience and a new moment I want to enjoy. Each moment in Europe for me is very, very special and I want to enjoy it. And I want to share with my players and try to send them my experiences as well in Europe, always being difficult trying to get a trophy.

“But our objective is, of course, trying to progress in this competition and trying to do our process as a team. And share it with the Premier League because it’s very tough, very difficult, but I want to share the same mentality in the Conference League and Premier League. Tomorrow is another step ahead taking the experiences I want to have with the players at Aston Villa.”

Unai Emery, pre-match.


"It was a tough game, a tough atmosphere. They had all 11 players behind the ball, but we are grateful for a point in this difficult group.

"The goal is to win this competition, in the Premier League if we keep playing well, hopefully we can finish among the top four teams."

Jacob Ramsey.


"I think it is a very good score, we have finished with four points. A point against Aston Villa we could only dream of.

"We wanted to present ourselves very well, not to be afraid, to play as well as possible. Because this may be the only game like this in our career. We couldn't have imagined we'd come and play so many games by December. We're tired, exhausted, but proud."

Nemanja Bilbija, Zrinjski forward


"I don't know much about the league of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They showed that they have the capacity and that defensively tactically they are doing well, they showed that in Birmingham as well. They motivated us to play."

Unai Emery.


“We are happy because our objective was to be the first in the group and with this draw we are.

“We wanted to play as well with players who haven’t played regularly in the season, for some injuries like Jacob Ramsey and Alex Moreno.

"As well with Leander Dendoncker, Filip, Tommi O’Reilly as well it is important for them to get confidence and minutes. Jhon Duran as well. Tonight was perfect with this result and perfect for the players to get their chances.

"We wanted to win, but the first objective was to be first in the group and then try to enjoy the way in this competition. Being in Europe, it is important to remember how we achieved it last year and how we are now trying to win a trophy and enjoy it with our supporters. It is important to enjoy it with them.

"Now we are going to focus on the Premier League and on Sunday in Brentford.

“We are going to try and recover from the match we played tonight and with other players, some players like Tielemans and Bailey, hopefully we can get the match on Sunday with the players ready to play."

Unai Emery, post match.