Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has hailed his academy stars for their fight in coming from behind to beat RB Salzburg in the Europa League on Thursday.
The Villans were already safely through to the last-16 in the competition, allowing Emery to rotate his squad and give his younger crop a run-out.
And the Spanish head coach was rewarded, with 19-year-old Jamaldeen Jimoh netting the winner late on at Villa Park.
Unsurprisingly, Emery was full of positive remarks after the match. He said: “Very happy and of course today was a match playing with some potential players we have as a young players in the academy developing with them.
“And today they had an opportunity to play, George then Jamal [Jimoh-Aloba] and Kadan [Young]. Of course, Jamal scored a goal, really fantastic.
“We were expecting a difficult match because they needed to win. They are brave playing forward. Trying to get in individuals duels with us.
“In Europe, with the experiences we have, we know how difficult each match is. Today, playing 90 minutes, creating this energy with our supporters is something we can feel as a competition where we can be protagonists and get something.”
On the academy players, he added: “It is necessary to give them chances and those three players play, George and then Jamal and Kadan, I think it’s a good opportunity for them, they played getting experiences and played like we need in the plan we have with them.
“To get a victory, to play with some players like them and creating in this competition something with our supporters feelings for it I think is very important.”
