Jamie Carragher has stood firm on his view of Manchester United's stature compared to Aston Villa, but Unai Emery has insisted he still has big ambitions at his current club

Unai Emery insists he can win the Champions League with Aston Villa following Jamie Carragher’s recent controversial comments about him taking over at Manchester United.

Former Liverpool defender Carragher landed himself in hot water after suggesting United should target Emery as a replacement for Michael Carrick, who continues to come under pressure as the Old Trafford club languishes at the bottom end of the Premier League table.

After receiving backlash, Carragher defended his view that United would always be the bigger club, while also telling Villa fans to “shut the f--- up” after insisting that the Red Devils would always be in a position to take Emery.

That though saw Villa declare that it would be taking legal action against the pundit, which led to Carragher issuing an apology. Villa has since opted not to follow up on its threat.

Carragher has since doubled down on view on United’s stature compared to Villa ahead of the two sides meeting on Sunday. Emery though seems more than happy where he is.

The Spaniard looks set to sign a new contract at Villa, and despite suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Barcelona during the week, he feels he can still take the club to another level.

“Aston Villa won [the European Cup] in 1982. They were favorites at that moment? I think not,” Emery said.

“Leicester won the league 10 years ago. In football, everything can happen. Of course, the favorite teams, they are (competing for) the Premier League and Champions League.

“With Villarreal, we played in the semi-final four years ago. We were close. Borussia Dortmund played three years ago in the final. They are teams not favorites, but sometimes they are having their opportunity to fight for this title.

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“In the Premier League, it is more difficult. We finished two times fourth in the league and in those times we were in December two or three points behind Manchester City and Arsenal. To keep the consistency in 38 matches is the difficult way. But we are working, trying to get our best.

“Of course, it is very difficult to win the Premier League, very difficult to win the Champions League. I have my dreams, thinking in objectives like that. In all my moments working in all the clubs, I was setting my demand high and my objectives high, sometimes achieving and sometimes not.

“Last year, we achieved the Europa League, which is the second competition in Europe. Still being positive how we can continue improving, how we can even not being contender in the Premier League or Champions League, we have to compete and we have to try to get our best. Over the time, we will see how we can achieve our objectives.”