It was not so long ago that Villa decided to sign Alex Moreno, now on loan at Nottingham Forest, because he was regarded as the ideal profile for an Emery-style left-back; a sharp burst of acceleration was vital to his one-v-one and ball-carrying abilities.

After wins against Young Boys and Bayern Munich, Aston Villa can put one foot in the Champions League knockout stages by beating Bologna - but Unai Emery doesn't want to stop there

"We love football, we love our work and we want to be successful and one of them is Champions League," Emery said in his press conference. "I want to keep it for a long time and it is difficult. Sometimes we can have some problems, but we need some resilience and to create a strong mentality to break barriers."