Aston Villa: Unai Emery aims to prove Villa's worth among the elite against Barcelona in the Champions League

Unai Emery walked into Villa Park four years ago with two clear aims. "My dream is to win a trophy with Aston Villa.

It's my challenge," he said at his unveiling in November 2022. "My second dream and my objective could be to play with Aston Villa in Europe.

But now, we have to start thinking only the next match because we are not in good position in the table now." Fast-forward to today and Villa will run out at the Nou Camp to face Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday night, having won the Europa League in May and with it ending a 30-year trophy drought. Emery has already achieved his goals, which has led to natural speculation about the next step - with Villa or elsewhere.

Villa wereangered to the point of threatening legal action when Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carraghersaid Emery would want to manage an elite club, with Manchester United admirers. Villa, though, see themselves as a club ready to join the elite - having challenged them in the Premier League and Europe for the past two years - with Emery leading the way.

Emery celebrates his 55th birthday on Tuesday by facing Barca back in his home country. Carragher's assertion the Spaniard would be open to leaving Villa was naive, given how much Emery controls matters at the club and the success he has had with them, even if it was not the most sensational of opinions.

He signed his most recent contract in May 2024, taking him to 2029, so Villa are protected - but there will ultimately be a new deal following the Europa League triumph. He has taken Villa up the pecking order, but they are still not at the top of it - though they remain well placed, as thesigning of Johan Manzambi from Freiburg showed.

Villa still lost players in the summer to traditionally bigger clubs: Emi Martinez, Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne,with Ollie Watkins also leaving for Saudi Arabia. But the changes have given Emery new vigour.

Nights at the Nou Camp give the Spaniard the chance to prove his worth and the progress made at Villa. "We are constantly seeking new challenges and we want to respond in games against Barcelona to see how far we are from them," he said.

"We won it [the European Cup] in 1982 and right now we are enjoying reminiscing with our fans, playing in this competition again, and trying to repeat that success."