Emery: ‘I told Al Qalaifi that in time Paris will win the Champions League’

This year’s elimination of Paris Saint-Germain from the quarter-finals of the Champions League caused a great deal of resentment and ‘rumbling’ in the squad world as the club bolstered with big transfers last summer.

Lionel Messi’s arrival brought a wave of optimism to Paris and raised expectations from the team’s friends, who felt that the top spot in Europe would be an easier target with Neymar, Messi and Ebape.

Paris may not have made it this year, but former Parisians and now Villarreal manager Unai Emery stressed that the side will one day succeed, a belief he has shared with the club’s president Nasser Al Kelaifi has expressed.

Speaking to Equipe, the Spanish coach also pointed out that there are three former Paris coaches who have guided the team to the quarter-finals of the Champions League:

“It means that they are all very good coaches. This year is a step backwards but I said to Nasser Al Qalaifi: ‘You will win the Champions League. In time you will win.’ Someone has to break the roof. Paris is on track because there is a form of constancy in the results and it is still looking for improvement and development.

It’s very difficult to beat teams like Bayern or City. Look at City with Guardiola who is the best coach in the world. The trainer is a kind of supreme character and only a select few are winners. And of the chosen few, only one wins the Champions League. Of course, that doesn’t mean others aren’t good.

Guardiola once told me that because teams like Barcelona or Real have already won the tournament, they react better in difficult conditions. Managing frustration is key When Barcelona scored four goals in 2017 (4-0 in the first game, 6-1 in the second game at Camp Nou), then five and the referee made a mistake, we didn’t know what to do.

The same thing happened against Real (in the second round of 16 next season, 1:3, 1:0 in the first leg). “When Benzema equalized and then scored the second goal, I saw players I know well, like Kimbebe or Marcinios, who didn’t know how to react because they were disappointed.”