Youri Tielemans sends 'make our mark' message after revealing what Unai Emery told him in transfer talks
Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans spoke to the press at the Wankdorf Stadium ahead of Aston Villa's match with Swiss champions Young Boys
Youri Tielemans was in attendance at Aston Villa's pre-match press conference ahead of the Champions League clash against Young Boys on Tuesday night (5:45pm kick-off).
The Belgian has enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign and has played every minute of Villa's first four Premier League games so far. Here's every word he said to the media in the press conference...
How do you sum up your first year at Villa?
"Very happy. We achieved something really good last year. Now we’re here playing Champions League. We’re really excited to get going in this competition.
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"There was always an ambitious plan before I signed. That’s why I came to Villa. It’s maybe earlier than expected in the project but we’ve had some really good performances and now we’re here and we’ll try and make the most of it."
Did Emery mention targeting the Champions League before you joined?
"Yes, individually he did. Because that was one of his goals when he joined the club as well and that’s how he set it out to me before signing. It was a real big goal for him to achieve. Now we want to carry on. We don’t only want to participate in this, we really want to make our mark in the competition."
Villa have had a good start to the season...
"We’ve got some really big games and tomorrow is the start of it. We want to make the most of it, hopefully we can get a win here but it is very difficult."
Do you like the new Champions League format?
"I do. It’s basically the more points you get and hopefully being in the first eight you qualify from that."
Is it difficult to play the amount of games you are?
"We all know the schedule will be very busy. There are at least two more games, we will have to manage our recovery times and pick up as few injuries as possible. It’s true the schedule is very busy.
"Football is a demanding sport, we know there are more and more competitions. Football is getting tougher every year, it’s taking it’s toll on the body but we have to make the most of our recovery moments and to hopefully perform on the pitch. Sometimes it’s very hard but it’s what we love to do. Having a good pre-season."
How will you use your experience in this competition?
"We’ve got some experience from Europe last year and be even tougher this year being in the biggest european club competition. We’ll have to do better than we did last year, missing out on the final will be tough."
How important will the whole squad be this season?
"Everyone wants to play and we’ve seen how many injuries we had towards the end last year and everyone had a part to play last season. Everyone has to be ready, everyone wants to play but the manager is there to make the decisions. The subs have played their part in the squad winning games in the last couple of weeks."
Are you concerned about the plastic pitch?
"I wouldn’t say concerned, but we all in our youth careers played on astro turf before. When you get used to Premier League pitches and good grass it’s different. We’re training here to get ready for the surface and no excuses tomorrow."
What have you made of Duran's start to the season?
"Inside the changing room he has always been the same guy, really funny and his own character. He’s doing his talking on the pitch at the moment, he’s focused and working hard and doing what everyone asks and he’s doing really well for us at the moment."