Unai Emery's Aston Villa seeks Europa League success in poor start to the season

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Aston Villa's Donyell Malen, right, in action during the English Premier League soccer match between Sunderland and Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light, in Sunderland, England, Sunday Sept. 21, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery, right, and Tyrone Mings during a training session at Bodymoor Heath Training Ground, Tamworth, England, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2025, one day ahead of their UEFA Europa League soccer match against Bologna FC. (Jacob King/PA via AP) — Aston Villa's Donyell Malen, right, in action during the English Premier League soccer match between Sunderland and Aston Villa at the Stadium of Light, in Sunderland, England, Sunday Sept. 21, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

Audio By Carbonatix

3:43 AM on Thursday, September 25

The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Aston Villa faces Bologna to kick off its Europa League campaign on Thursday, hoping to put behind a miserable start to the season.

The English side has a coach no other team can match to do so: Unai Emery is the most successful manager in the competition with four Europa League trophies, three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal.

Emery led Villa to placings of fourth and sixth in the last two Premier Leagues and to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. But this season Villa is winless in the Premier League, scoring a single goal in five games and already eliminated from the English League Cup.

The game against the Serie A team is a rematch of their encounter last season at Villa Park in the Champions League, where Villa won 2-0.

Another team struggling in its domestic league, winless Rangers, opens against Belgium’s Genk at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow.

Among other games, Salzburg hosts two-time champion Porto, Celta Vigo travels to Stuttgart, Lyon is at Utrecht and Lille meets Brann from Norway. Go Ahead Eagles makes its debut against Romanian FCSB and Panathinaikos is at Young Boys.

The Europa League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League. Teams play eight different opponents during the league phase and are ranked in a single-standings table.

The opening round is split over two days. On Wednesday, Antony's late equalizer rescued a 2-2 draw for Real Betis against Nottingham Forest.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer