Steven Gerrard wants to emulate former sides’ European success with Aston Villa
After two of his former teams reached European finals this week Steven Gerrard has expressed his desire for Aston Villa to reach that level.
Rangers defeated RB Leipzig on Thursday (5 May) to make the Europa League final, after Liverpool had overcome Villarreal (3 May) to book a place in the Champions League final.
Villa are currently 13th in the Premier League, and 12 points behind West Ham in the final European place, albeit with two games in hand, but Gerrard wants his side to strive to get into the European conversation.
The 41-year-old told talkSPORT: “As the Aston Villa coach I’m watching from afar, I’m focused on my priority which is here, but of course I’m very pleased and proud. Not just with Rangers but for the job Liverpool have done.
“It’s been a fantastic week of European football, fantastic games and you’re always trying to look to see what you can take out of it and that’s a level we need to strive for.
“And in the big picture, we want to be involved in those European games here at Aston Villa as well.
“I want as many points now as I can get until the end of the season and I’ve said on many occasions we look forward.
“We’ve got internal targets we want to reach ourselves, we’re not really interested in anyone else’s results and fixtures or outcomes.”
Goals
For a club the size of Villa Europe has to be the aim in the medium-term future.
It may have not been long ago that Championship football was being played at Villa Park, but the manager and the club have shown a lot of ambition this season.
The league table has to be considered somewhat of a disappointment for the squad that is being assembled.
Talismanic captain Jack Grealish was sold for £100million in the summer, but appointing a manager fresh from a league title in Scotland, and backing him to bring in the likes of Philippe Coutinho demands more than lower-mid-table.
With summer plans indicating no let up, considering the likes of Kalvin Phillips and Luis Suarez have been mentioned as genuine targets, next season could see significant improvement.
A campaign free from the disruption of a managerial change, and a pre-season for Gerrard to implement his ideas fully should help in that regard.
But if returns are not strong questions could quickly begin to be asked of the former England captain.
In other Aston Villa news, Indiana Vassilev has returned to Inter Miami on loan.