Unai Emery wants his Aston Villa side to embrace history as they return to the scene of the club’s greatest triumph when they travel to face Feyenoord in the Europa League.

Villa defeated Bayern Munich 1-0 in 1982 to win the European Cup at De Kuip, where they will face the Dutch side, as the Villans looks to build on a strong start in their European campaign.

John McGinn scored the only goal as Emery’s side held off Bologna in a 1-0 victory in their Europa League opener, while Ollie Watkins also missed from the penalty spot before finding the net against Fulham.

At his pre-match press conference, Emery said: “In 1982, Aston Villa were here, and last year we were playing against Bayern Munich, the team they faced, and of course it was something special.

“And today we can remember for our supporters, because our supporters, a lot of them, they were here.

“And then we are playing again here, and this is European football.

“This is something always special to play in Europe and we can add this detail because it’s very important for Aston Villa the club, and Aston Villa supporters.”

Aston Villa. Back in Rotterdam.#UEL pic.twitter.com/V0EzE8wqHl

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 1, 2025

Villa seem to have turned a corner as they recorded back-to-back victories against Bologna and Fulham at Villa Park after failing to win their first five league matches, but the Spaniard still wants more consistency from his side, starting with the trip to the Eredivisie outfit.

He said: “Tomorrow, we see it, we will see it how we are after the last two matches we won at home, Villa Park, Europa League against Bolonga and the league against Fulham.

“But we have a lot of work to do and we still have things to try to analyse deeply and try to get improving, tactically and individually, of course.

“Tomorrow is very important, in 90 minutes, to try to be consistent, to try to be focused in everything we will need, tactically and individually.

“The test we have is very, very important because it’s, in Europe, the first match away, against one team like Feyenoord.

Emery is already a four-time winner of the Europa League, but he believes the challenge of Feyenoord is likely to be one of Villa’s toughest of the campaign so far.

He explained by stating: “Firstly, because to play away, always is difficult. Secondly, because Europa League is very, very difficult.

“Thirdly, because Feyenoord, they performed fantastic last year in Champions League. Every team they were playing here, they were struggling.

“And I know, the environment is really supporting them and pushing them and playing like one more player for them.