Unai Emery is excited at the chance to “smell” the unique atmosphere of Wembley when he leads Aston Villa into their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace tomorrow.
Villa have not won the FA Cup since 1957 but can take a significant step towards ending that drought by seeing off Palace and setting up a final clash with either Manchester City or Nottingham Forest.
A cup win would represent another significant step forward for Villa, who have also returned to playing in the Champions League under Emery.
🗣️ Unai on our opponents tomorrow: “They’re a team playing fantastic football, and I respect this coach because he’s a winning coach.”
Read The Boss’ match preview below ⬇️
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 25, 2025
📰 Table Of Contents
FA Cup still holds special appeal
The vastly experienced Spaniard has managed all over Europe but he says he is still enthralled by the FA Cup.
He said: “I am a coach, I like and I love my profession, my work. To smell good stadiums, good pitches, I like it. And tomorrow I will enjoy it.
“Of course I have a huge responsibility to try to respond in a good way with the players. But really I am so, so excited to play in matches like tomorrow and the possibility we will have tomorrow in the FA Cup and something special when you are sharing it with your supporters because I know for the supporters it is something special.”
READ OUR FULL PREVIEW FOR CRYSTAL PALACE v ASTON VILLA HERE…
Tuesday night’s last-gasp defeat at Manchester City put a dent in Villa’s Champions League qualification hopes but Emery insists they will continue to fight on both fronts to achieve their objectives.
“When you are starting the season, you are trying to set some objectives at the end of the season through four competitions – Premier League, Champions League this year or Europe, FA Cup and Carabao Cup,” he added.
“And of course, we are now still in two competitions, the Premier League because it’s 38 matches and the FA Cup.
“We are focusing on each match in each competition, trying to get our best. And to be in Europe is one clear objective we have. The first way to get to Europe is through the Premier League. But by getting the trophy in the FA Cup, you can play as well in the Europa League.
“It’s the second objective we can have in the competition. Now we can’t choose only one competition. We are choosing both competitions strongly because we have two ways for our objective.”
FA Cup semi-final prep ✅ pic.twitter.com/wQj9my7DPh
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 25, 2025
Emery praise for Crystal Palace and boss Glasner
Palace are another side that are on an upward trajectory and Emery is an admirer of the South Londoners and their coach Oliver Glasner, particularly following their 4-1 Premier League thrashing of Villa in February.
Emery said: “Always we respect them. But they perform fantastic against us. We will try to identify again our capacity to dominate the match, to impose our positioning, our combination with the players, our individual duels. They are a team playing fantastic football, fantastic football.
“And I respect this coach because he is a winning coach. He won the Europa League and his experiences here in England with Crystal Palace this year has been really fantastic. He is getting to the semi-final and he is performing very well.
“Sometimes he is not achieving the result to be better in the league, but they are performing very well. Against us, they showed it and of course, you know it and I respect them a lot.”
