Guardiola’s revelation to Emery about what is happening to PSG in the Champions League: “The key is managing frustration” | sports

Unai Emery has shown his skills managing squads in Seville and currently at Villarreal, but he did not leave a great image at PSG. In an interview in the French newspaper ‘L’Equipe’, the Spanish coach explained the reasons why he did not get past the round of 16 in the two seasons he was on the bench for the Parisian team.

And it is that the Champions League is a competition that resists Nasser Al Khelaïfi’s PSG. Despite the fact that this year they have fallen in the round of 16 (again) after being eliminated against Real Madrid, when it seemed that with the trident Mbappé, Messi and Neymar, the French were going to go over the white team, the French team played a final of the European Cup against Bayern Munich in 2020 and fell in the semifinals in 2021. However, not even Tuchel, Ancelotti, Pochettino and Emery have managed to lift the orejona.

The tie that marked the future of Emery was Barcelona’s comeback at the Camp Nou with a 6-1 victory over PSG that has gone down in history. He also scored the elimination against Real Madrid, also in the round of 16. A bitter memory for the Spanish coach who, during the interview on ‘L’Equipe’, revealed what happens with the coaches who go through the Parisian bench but do not go past the quarter-finals and the prediction he made to the owner of PSG : “That means they are all very good coaches. If they were not successful with PSG, it is because there is something else because PSG… This year is a step backwards, but I told Nasser Al-Khelaïfi: ‘You will win the Champions League. In time you will earn it.’ Someone has to break the roof. PSG are on the right track because there is a form of consistency in results and they are still looking to progress.”

Emery himself has highlighted what is happening. “It is very difficult to beat teams like Bayern or City. Look at City with Guardiola who is the best coach in the world… The coach is a kind of supreme character and only a select few are winners. And of these chosen ones, only one wins the Champions League. Does that mean the others are no good? Of course not”.

In fact, the current Villarreal coach recalled what Pep Guadiola told him: “He told me once that teams like Barça or Real Madrid, having already won the competition, react better to difficult situations. The key is to manage frustration. When Barça (in the comeback) scored four goals and then five and the referee made a mistake, we didn’t know what to do. Against Real Madrid (in the second leg of the round of 16 the following season, 1- 3, 1-0 in the first leg), the same thing happened. When Benzema equalized and then scored the second goal, I saw players I know well, like Kimpembe or Marquinhos, who didn’t know how to react because they were overcome with frustration.”

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