Unai Emery was delighted with Aston Villa's first home win of the season as they dispatched Fenerbahce 6-0 in the Champions League and he has set his side the lofty goal of being one of the key "protagonists" in the tournament this season.
Aston Villa were ruthless against Fenerbahce as braces from Nicolas Jackson and Ross Barkley, alongside strikes from Johan Manzambi and Tammy Abraham guided them to a comprehensive victory.
It's been a tough start to the 2026-27 season for Villa after a summer of upheaval where several first-team players left. But Emery's side were back at their best in this demolition of the Turkish team.
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"We are delighted with the first win at home," Emery said. "Then how we played in the first half I was not so happy. They didn't score but Zion [Suzuki] played fantastic, they hit the crossbar.
"We wanted to control the match better. In the second half we were planning to correct what we didn't do well in the first half, and I think we did it. Then we tried to stop them and we scored three more. I don't think they deserved 6-0 but for us, it's important for us to achieve the first win at home and how we could manage the different players as well and the progression in how we stepped forward."
Emery was delighted with how Jackson and Manzambi performed and how the rest of his new signings are integrating. And he said it's a promising sign as he wants his team to qualify automatically for the next stage of the competition.
"We must exploit the different aspects of our capacity and sometimes we can score through set pieces," Emery said. "Sometimes we can score through transition in high press. Sometimes we will score well in transition. I think we had different goals today and I can feel confident.
"I was confident before today but there is still a lot of work to do. Our structure is strong, but we need more time.
"We are progressively getting better, progressively getting the balance that we need and today we took one very big step forwards. And those three points for us in the table is important and we are being ambitious. We want to be protagonists in the Champions League."
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Jackson said on TNT Sports that he wanted to take the penalty at 3-0 to give himself a chance at a hat trick but Emery later said Barkley being the team's penalty taker was always the plan. "The most important thing is we win," Jackson said. "Hopefully next time I'll get the hat trick.
"He [Manzambi] is a top player. I'm really happy we're playing together. I hope we score many more goals together.
"He [Ibrahim Mbaye] is an amazing player. We're in the [Senegal] national team together. Hopefully he'll get more time to play. He's very fast. It's good to have him."
Manzambi was outstanding on his birthday as he turned 21 years old.
"Today was very good," Manzambi said. "We scored six goals and no goals conceded. That's very nice. For the fans it's amazing.
"Very happy. My first Champions League game and my first goal -- on my birthday. My family are here. That's very nice for me.
"Amazing team. Amazing fans. I'm very happy to play here."