Stiliyan Petrov: Great opportunity for Villa to progress in Champions League

Stiliyan Petrov believes Aston Villa have a “great opportunity” to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages after finding out their league stage opponents.

Villa secured their spot at Europe’s top table for the first time since 1983 and are competing in the competition for the first time since the Champions League was formed.

Villa will face Bayern Munich at Villa Park in a repeat of their 1982 European Cup success as well as an all-British tie with Celtic and the visit of Italian giants Juventus.

The draw in Monte Carlo also paired the west midlands club with Bologna, alongside visits to Young Boys, Leipzig, Monaco and Club Brugge in the newly created league phase.

Former Villa midfielder Petrov believes his old side have a realistic chance of progressing.

He told the PA news agency: “I can see them going through to the next stage.

“There are some big games, some more winnable games for Villa, so for me I am really excited what it’s going to bring for Villa this Champions League campaign because I think they have a great opportunity to go through.

“I think they can go through automatic qualification.

“It will be tough, there is a lot of big teams and winnable games for the big teams but I think Villa can sneak through and go through to the next round.”

Unai Emery has taken Villa to the next level since he replaced Steven Gerrard in October 2022.

The Villa boss is a real European specialist having won the Europa League four times during his managerial career, three times with Sevilla before taking Villarreal to success.

Petrov hailed Villa’s manager, adding: “I think Emery has done an incredible job with Villa.

“When he was appointed there was a lot of questions about what he can bring to the club.

“I think with his CV and football pedigree, with everything he has achieved, especially in European football, I thought he has brought stability, a different style and even managed to qualify Villa for the Champions League.”

Petrov, 45, spent the majority of his career with Celtic and Aston Villa and both teams will find out the date of their meeting on Saturday.

Petrov featured 18 times for Celtic in the competition between 2001 and 2004 before making the switch to Villa Park.

Petrov went on to play over 200 times for Villa before calling time on his career after being diagnosed with leukaemia.

The former Bulgarian star highlighted the meeting of his two former teams as the fixture he is looking forward to the most.

He added: “Aston Villa and Celtic, let’s see. It’s two clubs that I’ve played for, two clubs with great history and I’m really looking forward to that one, I think the draw overall was great.

“My two favourites will be Villa and Celtic but my real favourite (to win the competition) will be Real Madrid.

“They have the quality, the team and it seems like they always show they can win big tournaments and at certain stages of the tournament, they become better and better.”

::Stiliyan Petrov was speaking to PA courtesy of bet365, as part of their global partnership with the UEFA Champions League. ::