Unai Emery ready to make late call on Aston Villa keeper Emi Martinez for Olympiacos clash
Unai Emery is preparing to give Emi Martinez a recall as the goalkeeper pushes to be fit for Thursday’s Europa Conference League showdown with Olympiacos.
Martinez, who has been struggling with a thigh injury, travelled to Greece with the rest of the Villa squad and has trained for the past two days.
But Emery on Wednesday refused to confirm he would be ready to face Olympiacos as Villa look to overturn a two-goal deficit, only going as far as saying he would speak to the Argentina international this morning to see if he was “100 per cent” ready for the semi-final second leg.
Robin Olsen, who has deputised for Martinez in the last two matches including last week’s 4-2 first leg defeat when the latter was suspended, is ready to do so again if required.
“He’s with us today,” said Emery. “But I don’t want to keep the information from you, he was injured last week after the match against Chelsea. 10 days.
“Tomorrow I will speak with him and the doctor to see if he is 100 per cent fit to play, but I believe in Olsen and I’m building the team not just with the players in the starting XI.
“If we did that we would be dead now because we’ve had a lot of players injured. Tomorrow if he is available 100 per cent he will play but if not then he will not play.
“If he (Olsen) is playing tomorrow he has all of our respect to play.”
Emery, who remained tight-lipped on the availability of Nicolo Zaniolo and Youri Tielemans, acknowledged Villa face an uphill challenge if they are to reach the final and branded Olympiacos favourites to progress after last week’s 4-2 win. He described tonight’s match as his team’s biggest challenge of the season.
“After the first leg they are favourites,” he said. “Their performance last week not a surprise for me. Everything I watched they delivered.
“It was how they were competing previously. They have been successful in Europe. We made mistakes and they were clinical and they were very competitive and we couldn’t stop them in some tactical ways that we usually can. Tomorrow is a challenge to be clinical and stop them and try and control them in 90 minutes.
“If we create chances and being clinical we could be close to draw the match and then hopefully it’s going long more than 90 minutes would be good news for us.”
“We have an amazing moment and I told the players this morning I want to enjoy more. I want to enjoy today and tomorrow and be motivated for tomorrow. I’m ambitious and very proud of how we’ve done this year, even when we have lost our reaction has been fantastic.”
