Laursen looking forward to another European campaign

Former Aston Villa fan favourite Martin Laursen is looking forward to seeing the club commence another European campaign, ahead of Thursday’s Europa League visit of Bologna (ko 8pm).

Unai Emery’s men welcome the Italian outfit to Villa Park on Matchday One as they begin the 2025/26 league phase with a repeat of last season’s 2-0 triumph in the Champions League.

Laursen, the last Villa captain to lead the club into a campaign in this competition back in 2008, has been impressed by the progress his former side has made under Emery.

The former Denmark international has enjoyed watching the Villans under the stewardship of the Spaniard, and is hoping things can get even better this season.

“It’s great,” Laursen admitted.

“Great to see Aston Villa as a club now – how much they have improved, how well they play. They win a lot of matches.

“Okay, they've had a tough start, but the last seasons, it's been great to watch (a) Champions League campaign, now (a) Europa League campaign, the success they have in the Premier League.

“Emery has done a great, great job for the club. So, overall, not only because of this European campaign, it's been great times for Aston Villa, and we all hope that it will continue and perhaps get even better.”

As joint winners of the 2008 Intertoto Cup, Villa sealed qualification for the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, the final season of the competition under its former name before rebranding as the Europa League a year later.

A decorated professional who had already lifted the Champions League, Coppa Italia and Serie A crowns with AC Milan prior to arriving in B6, Laursen insists his achievements in claret and blue, while wearing the armband, remain the proudest of his playing days.

He added: “I can honestly say that it's the proudest moment of my footballing career.

“I've never tried to be a captain before I was a captain at Aston Villa.

“It was a special, special thing for me, and not only because I was honoured to be a captain, but because it was being captain of Aston Villa, where I felt so much.

“I couldn't perform in the beginning, and then I came back, and Martin O'Neill came and I had some great, great matches with Aston Villa.

“I think I played the best football of my life when I was at Aston Villa, so it made me so, so proud to represent the club and the team in that way, being captain. It's a proud, proud moment of my footballing career.”

Having made their way past Icelandic outfit Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar in qualifying – Laursen netting in a 4-1 first-leg win – and Bulgarians Litex Lovech in the first round, O’Neill’s Villans came up against formidable opposition in the form of Dutch giants Ajax, on Matchday One of the UEFA Cup Group Stages.

Close to 40,000 packed into Villa Park on October 23, 2008, as Laursen and Villa made the perfect start to their Group F journey.

Just eight minutes were on the clock when the now 48-year-old beat goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer to Ashley Young’s left-sided corner and flicked a header into the back of the net in front of the Holte End.

Villa Park was sent into raptures and, as Laursen recalls, a 2-1 victory under the lights was one to be cherished by everyone of a claret and blue persuasion.

“It's a long time ago, first of all,” he laughs, “but obviously, what comes in my mind is the first game against Ajax at home.

“I remember there was some talk that it was the first time in a lot of years where we played (in) Europe, we played in an international game at Villa Park.

“Marco van Basten was their manager. Ajax, a great team historically from Holland, and then we won 2-1, and I scored the first goal.

“It was something that I will obviously never, ever forget. Holte End as well. The first goal, and then we won the match at the end.

“So, that’s a great, great memory for me personally. And I think also for the club and for the team, it was (a) great experience.”

Asked where is ranks among his Villa memories, Laursen admits: “I would say at the very top.

“Honestly, I cannot really remember something that was bigger for me. I was the captain as well. I got the armband for that season.

“Now, when we look at it, it was the last season I had as a footballer. I played my last match in January, so it must have been not so many games left of my footballing career.

“I scored, and we won. It was everything. It was an unbelievable moment for me personally, and a great moment for the team as well.”

Villa would successfully navigate their way out of a tough group, ultimately bowing out of the competition at the hands of CSKA Moscow in the Round of 32 in February 2009. The Russian outfit marched on to the last 16, where they were defeated by eventual champions Shakhtar Donetsk.

Injuries put paid to Laursen’s treasured playing days in Aston Villa colours before he could appear for the club in the last 32 clash, and despite the frustration at the time of not being able to help take the team further in Europe, Laursen still looks back on his career fondly.

He added: “Obviously, that's a big frustration for me, but that's only a little part of it. I mean, obviously, something that I couldn't do anything about, because I was injured and that's the fact.

“So, I couldn't help the team with the European campaign. I couldn't help the team to perhaps go into a Champions League place that season. I had to give up my international career as well with Denmark. I had to stop playing football.

“That was the worst part of it, in an age of 31, I think I was at that time, so much too soon.

“I would have loved to play four or five more years with Aston Villa and representing that great club and had the armband on my arm and everything, so that was very, very sad, of course.

“But I think I remember that I said that I was also happy with the career that I had so far, even though it was too soon to stop playing football, I could – and I can still – look at the positives with what I did as a footballer, and my life today is great.

“I have a family, I have earned great money playing football, so I'm very pleased with everything that I've done.”

Having struggled with the injuries that ultimately cut his career short when he first arrived in England, Laursen will always remain grateful to the Villa faithful for biding their time with him and providing him with the opportunity to walk the club out at Villa Park in European competition.

The Dane reiterates his stance that doing so with the Villans brought a different feeling to any other he was lucky enough to experience as a footballer, something which will live with him forever.

“I had such a special feeling with Aston Villa,” he concluded, “that's why it makes (it) so, so special.

“I've done that (played in Europe) many times before with AC Milan, also with the national team, obviously different because it's a national team match.

“But for me, it was so special, because I had that feeling for Aston Villa. I was the captain. I had so much to play for because I felt so much for Aston Villa.

“They had waited for me many years, because I had a very difficult start,” he explained, “so, I felt like I had to give a lot back because of what they had been through with me as a club, and the fans as well.

“But I've always felt that the club and the fans were so much behind me, even though I didn't play, I hadn’t performed that much, I always felt that they were behind me.

“Then, I had a season where I played all the matches and I played really well, and that makes everything really nice for me, that I could pay back a little bit of what they didn't see in the beginning, because I was injured.

“So, most of all, these European nights, especially with Aston Villa, because I felt it in my bones. I felt it in my body, everything. I just wanted to do well, because it was Aston Villa.”