NEW YORK — More than three years later, Unai Emery still remembers the moment as if he had witnessed it. When he brings it up, all the frustration I felt that day in March 2019 rushes back.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang won the ball and the clock went over 90 minutes, and the referee calmed the confusion. Arsenal scored a penalty which was their last chance to win the match. For Emery, in his first season as Arsenal coach, it’s also a chance to drag the team into the Champions League at the expense of the club’s bitter north London neighbors Tottenham Hotspur.
But Aubameyang usually locks from the penalty spot, fail to scoreThat missed shot was the moment that, as far as Emery was concerned, ended not only Arsenal’s hopes of playing alongside European football royalty, but also his retention of his job as Arsenal’s manager.
“We had a good season and were very close, but this moment…” he insisted.
For Emery, his endeavor to rebuild his career at Spanish club Villarreal has been a resounding success after two seasons by most metrics. It’s not just football matches that are defined by moments. Or a match-winning goal. As he knows, entire careers can also be flipped upside down here and there in the blink of an eye, or take on new and unexpected trajectories.
Emery, 50, didn’t quite fall off the ladder after firing at Arsenal. He was off work just a few months before landing at Villarreal next summer, and at least he had one Premier League call his club called. (He said number.) followed by a bigger club. Emery sounds like someone who is ready to listen.
“I think I recovered my level and kept my future challenges high, high, high,” he said, raising his hands above his head. “I am very ambitious.”
After all, he’s already reached the top of football. With Sevilla he won three European finals, managed Paris Saint-Germain in his Champions League for two seasons, and was then asked to go to London to manage his Premier League.
In 2018, Emery was tasked with leading Arsenal into the future, managing the transition from 24 years under Arsene Wenger. Emery’s era got off to a good start, with an 11-game winning streak, the club’s best in over a decade. But then a botched penalty, failing to overtake Tottenham in the standings, suffered a bitter defeat to Chelsea in the Europa League final. Emery survived the summer, but Arsenal showed him the door in November after a lengthy winless run.
His demoralizing departure came in exchange for a two-year adventure in western Spain. Villarreal’s first major trophya moment of glory against some of football’s strongest teams, and proof that, at least for Emery, he can still be considered one of the game’s best coaches.
His most high-profile success came last season when he led a team of rugged veterans, big-club retirees and up-and-coming youngsters on an unlikely excursion in the Champions League. did. Villarreal eliminated Juventus and Bayern his Munich before threatening a comeback of cinematic proportions against Liverpool in the semi-finals.
According to Emery, the journey was built on players who rose to the occasion when the moment came. Much of Villarreal’s success was built by practicing set-pieces and counter-attacks on the practice field, drilling into the players the idea that they had to dig in and stick to the plan.
“It can close the gap to other teams,” said Emery. In his view, a coach can improve his players and teams by 10-15%. The rest is up to them to blend readiness, conviction, and composure at key moments.
“How can I explain?” he said. “Last year when we played Arsenal in the Europa League semi-finals, we were worse. We were worse than them. They were better than us. Our work – we have created a very good mentality.
It was the formula he brought again in the Champions League last spring. Emery said the knockout upset opponents either on the defensive or offensive side, although he should expect his players to suffer for a big spell before his 2-1 draw in the round. I said that we should believe that the opportunity will come. “When they start to suffer, that’s when you can win,” Emery said.
The moment was unforgettable. He beat Juventus 3-0. Spain’s Bayern Munich scored a goal to eliminate the Germans in the 88th minute at home after a stunning first-leg win against Munich. Against Liverpool, Villarreal overturned his 2–0 first-leg deficit within his 41 minutes to upset opponents and rock the stadium.
Liverpool regained their footing and survived — other teams had similar moments — but the Champions League put Villarreal’s best players on the map. Their coach admits he’ll be the same one day.
He has already turned down some suitors, including an approach from Newcastle United after Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund bought the Premier League club. “It wasn’t the right time,” Emery said of his decision last November. Newcastle, for all its new wealth, were last in the table at the time and Villarreal were in the Champions League.
That tournament was able to change perceptions in a way that he and his players knew that his success in the Spanish league had failed.
At the beginning of his tenure, Emery said he intended to focus on the league. “But the Champions League was more important to me when we beat Atalanta, when we played against Juventus. “I know I have personal challenges, too,” Emery said.
Emery was hurt by the nature of his departure from Arsenal when he arrived at Villarreal. Those wounds have not fully healed. In Spanish, he described the departure as a golpe, or blow. By the time he was fired, Emery had faced criticism for feeling more personal than professional at times. with his English.
These criticisms are still wise. Recently, when a fan in a pre-season match in England asked Emery to say “Good ebening,” the coach responded with an obscene gesture that went viral.
At Villarreal, the team’s wealthy owners provided Emery with a platform to find balance in his life and a space to rebuild his beliefs in his coaching style. However, Emery said he is confident his success will not be if the coach finds his level and is the most comfortable leader one below him in the elite. “I feel strong and confident again and am in a very good environment to add confidence to my work,” he said.
His determination to return to the top is perhaps best illustrated by his extracurricular activities. While he is re-establishing his qualifications in Spain, he is also working hard on English. He described his summer trip to New York as a learning opportunity for him as well as a vacation with his son Lander. He may be tacitly acknowledging that not all of his Arsenal criticism was off the mark.
He has had moments at Arsenal where he failed to get his message across and a crucial early season with key players where the language barrier made it difficult for him to build the coach-player bond that is essential to the team’s victory. I have been ruminating on the conversation of
“Next time I come, I will try to speak English better,” he said.
That time may soon come. But for now, Emery is ready to wait and wait for the right moment.
