Unai Emery admitted Marco Asensio is “very important” to the structure of his team when asked if he wants to sign the playmaker permanently this summer.
Asensio scored his third brace in as many home appearances for Villa to help the club progress past Club Brugge in the Champions League round of 16.
Villa started the second leg two goals to the good after winning 3-1 in Belgium last Tuesday.
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Brugge were reduced to 10 men early in the first half as Kyriani Sabbe denied Marcus Rashford a clear goal-scoring opportunity after the forward was picked out by Emi Martinez.
Villa took the lead through Asensio shortly after the restart, before Ian Maatsen bagged his first for the club and the Spaniard scored his second of the night on the hour mark.
Asensio's parent club Paris Saint-Germain await Villa in the quarter-finals after Emery’s side thrashed Brugge 6-1 on aggregate.
“Very happy how we competed in the two matches,” Emery said in his press conference. “We respected them and tried to press them and recover the ball. They avoided the press. They didn't get clear chances, but dominated.
“Their player got sent off, but even playing with one player more we didn’t dominate the game. We spoke in the dressing room about how we could change and in the structure, also remind them how we arrived here.
Aston Villa have already surpassed expectations in the Champions League this season, but Unai Emery "wants more". PSG would be foolish to underestimate a team who finished in the top eight, have won 7/10 games, scored 19 goals and kept five clean sheets in the competition.#AVFC pic.twitter.com/Tvo4QcQ0EM
— John Townley (@johntownley11) March 13, 2025
“The second half we did it. I don’t know if we could do that same work in 11 vs 11, but this second half was what we wanted against every team.
“We respect them and appreciate them a lot, how they perform and compete. We added Asensio and other fresh players, who helped us a lot.”
Asked if he wants to sign Asensio permanently, Emery replied: “It depends. We are happy with him. We are protecting him because he is not feeling 100 per cent in the last matches he played.
“Today he was feeling good. He wanted to start the match, but I decided to protect him as well. How he played for 45 minutes was fantastic for us.
“He took the responsibility to do his task like we planned, scoring goals. How he is connecting with other players, keeping possession and getting in good positions is really important for us.
“His skills, it is in my idea structurally and tactically how I want to build the team. One player like him is very important.”
Emery tried to sign Asensio in the summer of 2023 once he left Real Madrid, but he opted to join PSG for Champions League football.
