“In Paris, I could become the best coach in the world. I missed this opportunity »he conceded in the columns of France Footballin January 2020. A bitter, implacable observation, inevitably influenced by the specter of the trauma of the comeback (1-6) suffered almost three years previously against FC Barcelona.
Since then, the Spaniard has managed three different clubs (Arsenal, Villarreal and Aston Villa) and added two Europa Leagues (the C2) to his list of achievements: in 2021 on the Valencian bench, then last season with the English Villa, thus bringing his number of major European titles to five, equaling Carlo Ancelotti, José Mourinho and Giovanni Trapattoni. Enough to now sit at the table of the (most) great coaches on the circuit? There is debate, especially since he, unlike the trio mentioned, has never won the prestigious Champions League (C1).
Mikel Arteta (Arsenal manager) praises his record ” amazing “Pep Guardiola (who has just left Manchester City) proclaims his “admiration” and Jürgen Klopp (new Germany coach) qualifies him “world class coach”. However, its popularity varies significantly over the seasons. And for good reason, since a major obstacle still resists the Unai method: the big clubs! With PSG, in addition to the humiliation at Camp Nou, he remains one of the rare coaches of the Qatari era to have let a Ligue 1 title slip away (in 2017). And at the helm of Arsenal, during the 2018-2019 season, despite a Europa League final (lost), he finished the exercise with a disappointing fifth place in the league.
If he shines again, it will be in smaller clubs. First Villarreal, which he led to the coronation in C2, before reaching the semi-finals of C1 the following year, eliminating, in particular, Bayern Munich. Then with “The Villans”, of which he took the reins in 2022 and with which he continues to build his legend. His record and the aura that surrounds him on site are comparable to those of his years at Sevilla FC. Where he became a local demigod by winning three consecutive Europa Leagues, between 2014 and 2016.
Against PSG, the Basque can take a little revenge
At the head of the favorite team of Prince William and Tom Hanks, the sleek coach stands out. With a seventh place in the league during his first year, a fourth the following year, then a sixth the last – alternating between the quarter-finals of C1 and victory in C2 in the meantime – he has just completed three seasons which are gradually bringing the club closer to its former glory. Notably the beginning of the 1980s, when Bordeaux and Sky Blue won the English championship before going on to lift the Champions League. Even if we are still far from such exploits, the supporters of the first Birmingham club believe in it.
As evidenced by this XXL tifo, deployed in one of the Villa Park kops, at the start of last season: an enormous portrait of Unai Emery accompanied by the inscription “No limits to our dreams” (no limit to our dreams) symbolized the newfound ambitions of the seventh Premier League budget. So, for the coach as for the fans, going to win the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday in Salzburg, Austria, a competition which pits the title holders of C1 and C2 against PSG, is clearly far from being anecdotal.
Ultra theatrical on his bench, where his incessant gesticulations have sometimes earned him a few taunts, he is above all an extraordinary leader of men, driven by a devouring passion for his sport. A commitment which even pushed him, in 2022, with his brother Igor, to become a majority shareholder of the Real Union Club of Irun, in Spanish D3, in his native Basque Country, of which his grandfather was the goalkeeper… a hundred years ago! “He sleeps football, he lives football, he pisses football, he swears football, he even makes love football, he’s sick! » Frenchman Laurent de Palmas, right back of UD Almeria, had fun in this sense, at the time when Emery was training there in 2006-2007.
At Bodymoor Heath, Villa’s training center, like everywhere he has been, the 54-year-old technician inflicts video sessions of sometimes crazy length on his players. But, in the long term, the majority are greatly grateful to him, as he enhances their potential. “He taught me that I knew nothing about the position I play in”summarized Tyrone Mings, the English international defender, where Adil Rami presents him as “one of the most important people” of his career, both “footballistically and humanly”. With more than a thousand matches coached from a bench, Unai belongs to the circle of the most experienced and successful coaches in activity. It remains to reach the final level: succeed with a major European club, or allow Aston Villa to (re)become one.
