Yahoo News Unai Emery reveals how he planned Jhon Duran goal before Aston Villa's clash with Bayern Munich
Unai Emery has revealed Aston Villa planned to exploit Manuel Neuer's tendency to play outside box line during the preparations for the Champions League clash with Bayern Munich as Jhon Duran came off the bench to win the match by lobbing the German goalkeeper.
Pau Torres played the ball through to Duran, who raced on to his pass before lifting the ball over Neuer. The Colombia international proved once again why he's the ultimate super sub for Emery after bagging his sixth goal of the season in all competitions, five of which have come after he was introduced from off the bench.
"This is the talent that they have, some players like Jhon Duran, we were speaking about it," Emery explained. "When Jhon Duran received the ball, he was scoring quick because of the analysis we did of them.
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"We were speaking a lot about how it’s usually the position of Neuer, always high. Really, I spoke with my coaches about how he [Duran] shoots because he had in his mind this possibility about Neuer."
Villa defended manfully against the Bundesliga title hopefuls, while Emi Martinez put in a sensational performance in goal after making crucial saves against Serge Gnabry and Harry Kane late on.
"Before the match, for me it was not the most important to win," Emery said. "It was how we could compete and competing either far or close to them. We needed to compete defensively more than normal.
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"We needed to get some duels strongly and improving, for example with Konsa. Lucas he is always doing. We needed to get opportunities to get in their box.
"I can feel now proud of our work and proud how we are here getting better, increasing our level and increasing demands. Before the match it was to face them and compete with the possibility to draw or to win.
"Even if we lost, then like we lost against Arsenal three weeks ago, competing and playing with our style and personality. We could have won or lost today, it depends on the saves from Emi Martinez or the goal from Jhon Duran. I am very proud of everything around Aston Villa."
