Aston Villa: Unai Emery reaches milestone in win over Lille

Villa’s decision to go for Emery four years ago was a sign of their ambition to make a mark on the European stage.

While they are still well placed in fourth position in the English top flight, as they aim to secure a Champions League berth next term, success in the Europa League would also deliver the same outcome.

However, on Thursday it was just about recapturing their rhythm and some confidence after a winless run of four games domestically that included defeats to Newcastle, Chelsea and bottom club Wolves.

Speaking to TNT Sports, returning captain John McGinn suggested that the result had provided Villa with a “building block” and opportunity to “reset” after a difficult few weeks.

“We needed a reset. The past month has not been great,” he said.

“We can’t dwell on it. We can learn from it but what we need to do is build and this is a building block. We know we can do a lot better but it is a good result.

“We showed signs of getting back to our best but there’s still a long way to go. Sunday is a massive game in the league as well [at third-placed Manchester United] so it is a tough run of fixtures, but that was a good start.

Meanwhile, Emery said he used the struggles of their Premier League rivals in the Champions League as a motivational tool before kick-off.

He said: “We respect this competition because we know the difficulties of each match away from home in Europe.

“We know how it is for the English teams, like yesterday in the Champions League, how they were struggling.”