UCL: Why we lost 3-0 to Barcelona – Aston Villa manager, Unai Emery

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has blamed his side’s poor finishing for their 3-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

Lamine Yamal opened the scoring after capitalising on a defensive mistake, while Raphinha scored twice in the second half to complete Barcelona’s comfortable victory.

Speaking after the match, Emery said his players created several opportunities but failed to take advantage of them against the LaLiga champions.

He explained that Aston Villa were able to compete in individual battles and create chances despite the early defensive error.

“Today, more or less, after the mistake we made, we were creating chances, facing them with individual duels,” Emery said.

The Spaniard admitted that the outcome could have been different if his team had converted one of their first-half opportunities. “If we could score one goal with the chances we had in the first half, maybe it would have been different, but we were not clinical,” he added.

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Emery also pointed to Villa’s nine points from their previous performances, urging his players to remain realistic while recognising their progress. He described the experience against Barcelona as important and insisted there were areas his team needed to improve.