Jacob Ramsey was delighted to have secured Aston Villa’s objective of top spot in Group E and a place in the round of 16.
The Villans sealed their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Europa Conference League courtesy of a 1-1 draw at HŠK Zrinjski on Thursday night.
Nicolò Zaniolo opened the scoring with his first goal in claret and blue before Matija Malekinusic equalised with a 20-yard strike in the 87th minute as it finished honours even at Gradski Stadium Mostar.
Unai Emery’s side, who collected 13 points from their six matches in the group stage, will now bypass the knockout round play-off in February and continue their European journey in March.
“I think the first game against Legia away, the boss said ‘we want to top this group, there’s going to be many more games’,” Ramsey told VillaTV post-match.
“This was the objective here, and in the rounds before.
“Topping the group means we’ve got less games to play so we can recover.”
Ramsey made his first appearance of the season against Zrinjski having overcome injury and enjoyed just under an hour in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The midfielder was happy to be back in Villa’s starting XI and is targeting more appearances as the season progresses through the festive period and beyond.
“I’m grateful to the boss for putting me in here and hopefully I can get many more starts,” he added.
“It’s been a while. I’m feeling sharper, but there’s a long way to go.”
You can watch Jacob’s full interview below…
