Legia Warsaw v Aston Villa preview: Unai Emery targets European success
As they prepare to take on Aston Villa before playing AZ Alkmaar and Zrinjski Mostar, they’re unbeaten in seven competitive fixtures (W4, D3), which should serve as excellent preparation.
“Maybe even win against Aston Villa, why not? It will be difficult, but in football, anything is possible,” manager Kosta Runjaić said.
After all, they won their last game here against an English side, beating Leicester 1-0 in 2021 and have scored exactly once in all three home European games against English opponents (W2, L1), but doing so again may not be enough.
That’s because Villa pose a significant attacking threat, sealing their first appearance in the group stages of a UEFA competition since 2008/09 by breezing past Hibernian 8-0 on aggregate.
In Unai Emery, they have a manager who knows how to win on the continental stage but he’ll know better than to underestimate any opponent, particularly after they needed two injury-time goals to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 on Saturday.
Away games have been a mixed bag for the Villans this term (W2, L2), but one running trend is plenty of action as those four matches produced an average of 4.5 goals.
Their only previous game in Poland saw them draw 1-1 with Górnik Zabrze, although that was back in 1977/78, four seasons before they went on to win the European Cup.
Players to watch: Legia’s man in form is Ernest Muçi, who has scored three times across their last two fixtures, with two of those strikes arriving after the 65th minute.
Villa’s Leon Bailey netted home and away against Hibernian and again at the weekend, with two of those goals coming between the 30th minute and half-time.
Hot stat: Legia have lost just one of their last 27 competitive home games (W21, D5).
