BARCELONA, Spain -- It is credit to Unai Emery that as Aston Villa left the partially finished Camp Nou, they knew their performance in the 3-0 defeat to Barcelona wasn't a fair reflection of their project's progress. As you looked around ongoing redevelopment of the Camp Nou, and the 3,000 Villa fans getting soaked in the roofless stadium, you knew Villa's foundations are sturdy, the second tier robust and with a Europa League title as proof of progress. It's just that final level they're still trying to finesse. There's room for growth there, this team hasn't yet hit its ceiling.
The Villa fans were still drenched from the previous night's deluge as they traipsed through airport security in the early hours of Wednesday morning. They stood in Camp Nou near three hours, completely exposed to the elements as the rain hammered down and their hopes of a memorable result were slowly drowned by Barcelona's relentless press. It was a fantasy swallowed up by Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and their cohort of Blaugrana sharks, but also a missed opportunity due to their own self-inflicted mistakes. You can't give gifts away to a team who had already scored 57 goals in all competitions this season heading into last night's match, especially on Emery's 55th birthday.
"There are a lot of things to learn today," Emery said afterwards. "Overall we are competing fantastically in the Champions League; we have nine points. But today, we saw there is still more to do to get to this level."
But was the 3-0 defeat a reality check? Perhaps, but that is a bit too harsh. It's more likely this is just a nudge along the path in Villa's own evolution. "Barcelona made the right decisions at the right times and scored really good goals," John McGinn said. "Tonight was a huge learning curve for us, and I am sure it will stand us in good stead for the future."
Emery spoke to the players post-match and hammered home the need to be clinical when it mattered -- whether that was passes around their own goal, or any sniff of an opportunity in the opposition's final third in an arena where seldom 50/50s go the way of the visiting team. He pointed to the errors, like the series which led to Barcelona's opener. It was six minutes in, Villa got flustered, constricted by Barcelona's high press. Zion Suzuki played a poorly-judged pass to João Gomes, who had Pedri breathing down his neck. Gomes' rushed pass went straight to Yamal, who set himself with a couple of lightning quick shimmies, flicked that wand of a left foot, curled the ball around Pau Torres and 1-0 Barça. Cue goal music and dancing in the rain. From there Villa were on the backfoot, in a match where they really had to knock Barça back with a few early punches rather than smack themselves in the face. Even more so given there were swathes of empty seats in the stands as several season ticket holders preferred to stay indoors rather than feel the brunt of the storm passing through Barcelona.
Villa had their chances at 1-0: Jackson had a one-on-one with Joan García which the keeper won. Gomes had a shot blocked by João Cancelo. Johan Manzambi scuffed an effort wide. Matty Cash came close with a volley. Manzambi fashioned another chance but shot straight at Garcia. Opportunities knocked but as Emery adds this Camp Nou tutorial to the litany of lessons he already has on several fruitless attempts at beating Barcelona on home turf (it's now one win out of 16 for Emery at Barcelona) it will be how his Villa team made the same mistakes again and again which would have annoyed him.
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They got caught out with slack passing from the back for Barcelona's opener and put together an ugly repeat of almost exactly the same move in the 26th minute where Suzuki's pass again found Gomes under pressure from Pedri, the ball coughed up, and this time it was Anthony Gordon who came close. And again, in the 66th minute, Suzuki's decision-making caused Villa bother, with Fermin pinching the ball off Boubacar Kamara and Suzuki produced a smart save to keep him out. As you look at Villa, that's one of the little ingredients missing: that ability to problem-solve mid-match in a tempest. "Today the test was not at the level we wanted to achieve, but left us a lot of things to learn, a lot of experiences for the players and it gives me information to analyse to try and compete at this level in hopefully the next months," Emery said.
"We have worked over four years together and we've made those mistakes before and we will always overcome those mistakes and improve as we know playing in this style is successful. We need to take those challenges and improve."
But let's take a step back. It's easy to pick holes in some of Villa's play last night, but what Emery has achieved in both the short and long-term since taking charge of the club in Oct. 2022 is a minor footballing miracle. He's helped build a sustainable, successful model at Villa, a team who have reached the Champions League in two of the last three seasons all under the constraints of the Premier League and UEFA's spending rules.
While he's steadily built Villa over the past four years, he's had to do some hasty repatching in the last four months. Since Villa had that historic night in Istanbul last May as they won the Europa League, the spine of that team has been picked apart. Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Emi Martinez, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans have all left.
The jigsaw Emery had to hastily re-assemble over the summer was formed off 11 new signings. Those pieces included an array of players at different stages in their career. Jackson and Aaron Wan-Bissaka arrived with points to prove, thrilling young talents like Manzambi and Ibrahim Mbaye brought promise but needed finessing, while he also recruited proven talents Suzuki and Matteo Ruggeri and Champions League-winning experience in Leon Goretzka. It's astute recruitment and a club confident in its process. "It was a very difficult start, a lot of change and information [the new signings have] taken in," McGinn said. "They realise the structure we've built in the four years the manager's been here gives players the best possible chance to show their ability and we've seen that with some of the new players, playing with much more confidence but most importantly playing for the team."
And if you want proof of the Emery effect and his incredible ability at maximising talent then take two case studies linked with Villa's next opponent Manchester United: Victor Lindelöf and Tielemans. When Villa picked up defender Lindelof on a free transfer in the summer of 2025, he'd just been released by United. By the following May, he was starring in Villa's midfield as they won the Europa League and has remained an important player back in his usual centre back role this term. And then on the flip side there's Tielemans who headed out of the Villa Park exit door in the summer.
"There are clubs above Villa, and Manchester United is one of them," Tielemans said at the time. He's since backtracked on those comments, and has looked fairly standard in a struggling United team. Emery elevates players like few other managers can. So you can imagine that when Villa travel to Old Trafford on Sunday, there'll be a few envious eyes cast from Manchester United's suits in the directors' box towards the man standing in Villa's dugout.
Emery has rebuilt Villa, again, in the space of four months. This is Emery 3.0: the first group evolved into 2.0, which won the Europa League, and now after the summer exodus, this is the next regeneration. Having that North Stand being rebuilt at Villa Park symbolizes where this club are -- one improving on sturdy ground, solid foundations, a club comfortable in being ambitious and expanding horizons.
"We have a demanding manager and coaching staff and they won't let us stop and be comfortable," McGinn said. "I'm 32 years old and the trajectory of this club is allowing me to dream in the same way I did since I was nine, 10, 11." Before Tuesday, McGinn's previous trip to the Camp Nou was in July 2004, as he took a stadium tour and coincidentally witnessed Ricardo Quaresma signing for Barça. Fast-forward 22 years, and on Tuesday night he led his team out onto the drenched, famous turf. That's progress.
Which is why as Villa's fans boarded their red-eye flights on Wednesday morning, having barely touched their hotel beds, they were quietly content. "It was one of those nights," said one fan, feet still squelching in sopping trainers. "We've come a long way," he added, gulping down a litre bottle of some fluorescent energy drink at 5.20am, his eyes telling the story of a night lived to the full. Even in defeat, these trips are to be savoured. They're still a novelty -- but they want these to become annual events.
On Sunday, Villa travel to Old Trafford. They'll still be licking their wounds at a missed opportunity, and lament self-inflicted errors. United will have the fillip of how they bounced back from 2-0 down to defeat Roma to give Michael Carrick another week in the job. As part of the match's narrative, there'll be inevitable talk of how Emery could be the answer to United's search for a saviour. But if you're Emery, would you rather fix holes in a ship that's been letting on water for 14 years, or stand atop the ocean liner you've helped craft with dry feet, surveying the various improvements being made and setting sail for whatever the horizon holds?
If you want to look at a club where steady progress is being made, a team comfortable in its own skin and completely aligned to one collective goal, then despite the colds and sniffles inevitably picked up as a byproduct of standing in a downpour for three hours on a chilly Tuesday evening, Villa are the team ahead of Sunday's trip to Old Trafford who are in rude health.