Unai Emery makes bold claim over Villarreal’s Champions League chances

Unai Emery says his Villarreal side are in with a chance of winning the Champions League this season.

The Yellow Submarine stunned Europe last season when they won the Europa League and claimed their first ever major trophy.

And they are back at it again this season, reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League after seeing off Juventus in the Round of 16.

Their reward is a date with Bayern Munich, perhaps the most difficult tie Villarreal could have asked for.

But this is a club used to giant killings, and Emery has a track record of producing the goods in the knockout stages of European competitions.

And so that gives him hope that one day he can lift the Champions League trophy having become a master of the competition’s smaller brother, the Europa League.

Not only that, but armed with a ‘dream’, he believes that, regardless of the challenges that await, Villarreal are in with a chance of winning this year’s edition.

“We have eliminated Juventus who could have been favourites or candidates to win this competition and we have beaten them,” he told Marca.

“Now we await Bayern, who are even more favourites than Juventus, and the difficulty is going to be greater.

“And then regarding the dream of winning the Champions League, of course.

“You have to have dreams and you have to work hard to make them come true.

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“And one of my dreams as a coach, and more so being in Europe for 14 years in a row, for me, my dream is to play again next season in Europe.

“Now that I’m in the quarter-finals, my dream is to win, to one day be able to win the Champions League, and at Villarreal we have our chance.”