All home teams qualified today, except Maccabi Tel Aviv. They lost 4-1 and couldn't use the advantage of the first match. They conceded 2 goals in extra time and Olympiacos won the round.
I expected Aston Villa to win and they didn't surprise me either. Ollie Watkins, one of the fit players of last weeks, opened the curtain and they won 4-0. They are one of the favorites for the cup. Another favorite is Fiorentina. In this cup, the teams have become a little more equal. It's getting harder to choose.
Aston Villa are the favorites here, I don't know at the start of the tournament whether they are the favorites but for now they are very favorites and after that there is Fiorentina and Lille.
For a team like Aston Villa, which struggled in the English Premier League, if they can become champions in the conference league this season, it is certainly a very impressive achievement because after being relegated and managing to climb back up, Aston Villa is just an average team in the English Premier League, one factor in their success is their coach, Unai Emery, who has succeeded in changing this team for the better, and next season they even have the opportunity to play in higher competitions, namely the Champions League or European League, if they are able to maintain their position in the current standings.
When Aston Villa can win a landslide victory over Ajax then they only have to wait for the draw for the quarter-finals, which team will be their opponent later, and my prediction is that they will still have a chance of getting to the semifinals.
Yes, Aston Villa is one of the favorites in fighting for the UEFA Conference League title this season because they performed well from the start of the competition.
Aston Villa also showed how stable the quality of their performance was during this season.
In addition, Aston Villa is quite strong team in the Premier League and they have experienced very significant improvement over the past two seasons.
With the tight competition in the Premier League, Aston Villa also has strong mentality because they often face big, strong team.
I personally think that this season for the Premier League and Conference League has been going well for Aston Villa, they are likely to be able to get UCL tickets for next season too.
In the Conference League, my hope is that Aston Villa will only get team that is not too strong because that way they can easily continue to advance to the final.
If they really advance to the final and win the title then it is clear that the achievements in the development of this season can be put to good use.