Unai Emery proud of Aston Villa after ‘brilliant match’ against Celtic | OneFootball

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was proud after seeing his side book their spot in the last 16 of the Champions League with a 4-2 win over Celtic.

Morgan Rogers was the hero with a hat-trick while Ollie Watkins also scored his first goal in the top European competition just hours after it was revealed that he was subject of a rejected bid from Arsenal.

Victory ensured Villa finished eighth in the league phase in their debut season in the competition and therefore avoided a play-off round.

They will face Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon or Club Brugge in the next round in March.

Emery said: “We are very proud of our work, of our way in the Champions League this year, of our work last year in getting here.

“There are a lot of strong teams to be favourites to be a contender. It is very important how we are here and how we started in this way. Now we enjoy the way, today was a fantastic day.

“The atmosphere was fantastic, it was a very good match. In 90 minutes more or less we played a brilliant match.”

Villa needed to win and hope other results went their way to avoid a play-off round and they looked like they would hold up their end of the deal with ease as Rogers scored twice in the opening five minutes.

The atmosphere was fantastic, it was a very good match. In 90 minutes more or less we played a brilliant match

Unai Emery

But Celtic, who were guaranteed a spot in the play-off round before kick-off, hit back before the break with two Adam Idah goals in two minutes.

Watkins put his side ahead, though, as he finally broke his Champions League duck on the hour before Rogers’ third at the death sent Villa through.

Defeat hurt Brendan Rodgers’ side as they will play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the play-off round after finishing 21st in the league phase. Their opponent will be decided in Friday’s draw.

But the Hoops boss believes his team have shown enough to give either of those powerhouses a game.

“We know it’s Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the next round,” he said.

“So that will be obviously a huge challenge for us, but we’re building confidence at this level and showing that we’re a team that can play and can work well and make it really, really difficult for the top teams.

“Clearly, it’s a great reward for the work the team and the club have done. Whoever we play they are clearly top-level teams.”

About the defeat, Rodgers added: “The word that strikes me at the moment is pride. I think that coming to a team that, over the last couple of years has been at the highest level, in the Premier League.

“Within a few minutes they get the first goal, a quick second goal, then there’s a question asked of you as a team, your spirit, your mentality, character, everything about you at this level, but the players continued to play.”