Spanish head coach Unai Emery was proud of Aston Villa's response in the Europa Conference League.

The Midlands club did not make a very good start to their game at home against Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.

However, they were able to hit back after Vangelis Pavlidis' opener for AZ against the run of play.

Diego Carlos and Ollie Watkins got the goals for Villa to seal a hard-fought 2-1 win.

“It's always very special here at Villa Park, and we are in Europe trying to enjoy the moments we are playing here with our fans," Emery stated post-game.

“Winning like today is fantastic. We have to be proud of the atmosphere we are creating here, trying to enjoy and feel something different in Europe.

“We are trying to get positive energy with every supporter. Today was a match that we had to respect the opponent because we won there 4-1 but they are a very organized team and we respect them a lot.

“They scored the first goal and we were trying to control our emotions in case something like that happened. I think we reacted very well."