Aston Villa have a unique advantage over their Europa League competitors due to Unai Emery's experience of guiding teams through the tournament, believes Morgan Rogers.

Villa finished second in the league-stage standings, only behind Lyon on goal difference, after recovering from 2-0 down to beat Salzburg 3-2 at Villa Park on Thursday.

It was just the third instance of Villa recovering from two goals down to win a major European match, having won 3-2 against Stromsgodset in the UEFA Cup in 1998 and by the same scoreline versus Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in 2025.

Villa have also won more home games than any other team in major UEFA competitions since the start of 2023-24, recording 14 victories in 16 such matches.

They will face one of Crvena Zvezda, Celta Vigo, PAOK or Lille when the round of 16 rolls around, and Rogers – who scored Villa's first goal against Salzburg – believes Emery can take them all the way.

The Spaniard has won the Europa League four times, more than any other manager, while his 101 games in the competition are also the most overseen by any coach (since the 2009-10 rebrand). 

"He knows how to get his way through a competition, especially this one," Rogers told TNT Sports of Emery. "To have him in our corner, guiding us through, it is going to be massive.

"Ultimately, it's down to us and how we apply ourselves, how we take each game, how we try and win games. 

"And in each round, there are so many good teams in the competition, so it's about taking each game as it comes and being at our best."

Tyrone Mings scored Villa's equaliser, before youngster Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba came off the bench to score a dream winner in front of the Holte End, with three minutes remaining.

At the age of 19 years and 119 days, Jimoh-Aloba is the fourth-youngest player to score for Villa in Europe, after Nathan Delfouneso (17 years, 319 days), Darius Vassell (18 years, 94 days) and Mark Walters (18 years, 154 days).

Mings said of Jimoh-Aloba's memorable cameo: "It's a lovely moment for Jimoh. We see all the hard work he puts in day in, day out.

"The manager is really hard on him, as are the rest of us, because we know his potential. It was just a lovely moment for him."