Nothing is accidental in the figure of Unai Emery (Hondarribia, 1971). Success refers to a very recognizable way of working and thinking, to a way of understanding the profession and the relationship with the player. The conquest with Villarreal of the Europa League, competition with which he maintains a very unique idyll since his triumphant stage in Seville, once again manifests the performance of a meticulous, convincing and intelligent coach in tactical approaches. The Emery method works and he discovers it before Álvaro Benito in this conversation so soccer that will show the keys of one of the most famous Spanish and European football coaches of this century.
“The beauty of football is the difficulty, because when it is easy it is no longer beautiful,” says Emery. It is a very illustrative mantra of how he internalizes his work. The value of LaLiga and the titles, dealing with stars like Neymar or the progression of the footballer, embodied in Gerard Moreno, These are matters dealt with by Emery under the complicity and curiosity of Álvaro Benito.
It has been several weeks since the final of the Europa League, how have you processed it?
In a natural way within a context of football, of demand and responsibility. Of what it means for my career, which has gone from bottom to top. When I arrived at Villarreal, the players told me “mister, you who have won three Europa League, let's see if we get it.” The illusion struck me. I was cautious and knew that it was very difficult. How am I after having achieved it? Relief. I told them that what was beautiful was what we had experienced, because that is what I was sure of winning it. When you win, there is satisfaction in a short period of time and for me the important thing is the path. My last reflection is that all these achievements are fine, but we have to keep looking forward.
Do you think that having won so many Europa League has been a plus for the squad when it comes to approaching that final on an emotional level?
Perhaps they felt a certain sense of confidence. I constantly told them how difficult it was, in every game. That not getting it was not a frustration. The first knockout round, round of 32, was the most difficult. The beauty of football is the difficulty. In the difficulty is the fullness of achieving something. When Arsenal arrive we feel that they are the favorites. We knew we had to play a very complete game, but from what we are and the trajectory we have been on. That's where I felt the team was mature. The process has been very nice. What it means to win, but also before winning.
After the final he demystified everything the coach has to do saying that they had not tried penalties. The easy thing would have been the opposite and win everyone's applause. Why is everything that involves a result related to the coach?
We talk about details and they are linked to experience. In Seville, penalties have given me two titles, but also the road. Penalties are for the decisive moments, and the one who shoots them well in training will probably shoot them badly in the final.
You can't train the emotional moment …
There is no equal context to be able to resemble it. I have learned that the goalkeeping coach is important, because he studies each pitcher, although the goalkeeper sometimes wants to be guided by his intuition. And that the pitchers have to be the ones who at that moment look you in the eye and tell you that they want to shoot it. I come from a controversy at PSG with two very good pitchers like Cavani and Neymar, but I have never decided an order of who should shoot them. Yes, I am in favor of being launched by specialists, who statistically have more success.
Throughout your career you have a great record in playoffs, what do you think this is due to?
It's a process, I've been training for seventeen years. I started going up to Second with Lorca against Alicante de Bordalás and against Real Unión, another great team. In Valencia I lost the qualifying rounds because the objective was to be third and enter the Champions League, and they even said about me that I was a regular coach but that I was not valid for the qualifying rounds. And in Seville it was Del Nido who asked me for a title. It is the best, you forget about economic, sporting goals … they are those of the fans, which is to live unique moments, when you most live the feeling of belonging to a team by mobilizing yourself to Basel, Turin … The next challenge is to find regularity in the League and Europe.
Have you learned to enjoy the process of football? Because in football it seems that you constantly have to set yourself new challenges. The metaphor of chasing the stick with the carrot.
I am left with the feeling of satisfaction that you can generate in people. That Villarreal feel proud of their team. And also around you, family and friends. I have a 90-year-old uncle who doesn't know how to differentiate between competitions. When we won the final he was happy, but he really realized the significance when he went down to town the next day and everyone congratulated him. Those feelings are the most important. For the club and for some players it was breaking a very important barrier. See what it produces in the fans, the worldwide media impact …
Are there differences between preparing for a league game and a playoff game?
I wrote at the time a book called Winning Mentality when I wasn't winning, at Valencia, and I received some criticism. I always said that the winning mentality is the one who always wants to win, without the need to always achieve it. But you in your head never give up. I expanded that idea into “competitive mentality”, which is that at all times you want to improve. In a team game you need the sum of those competitive mentalities to impose yourself on a rival. In the different competitions, the idea is to work 70% what we are, creating an identity, and 30% to adapt to the rival. For me, the league is where the best performance of a team is recognized. Does winning the Europa League make up for the poor result in the league? Yes, but only if you win it.
I think they have been the best team in the league to overcome high pressures, how much time do you spend training on this aspect that they have mastered so well?
I went from player to coach on Christmas vacation. I did everything very quickly, and in a process of a couple of years I was told that I was self-taught. And I have come to this day like this. My coaching process for game ideas has been building over time. I assume that when I have the ball, I am comfortable. This year we have found an idea for the game that the club already had, to which we have added some touches of mine on how to have the ball and positioning. There is a lot of merit for what Villarreal had built before and the players we have been able to have, like Parejo. And without the ball, I've always liked to get it back as soon as possible. Due to our characteristics, we have been the team that has run the most in kilometers, but at high intensities we were below the average. The greatest satisfaction you can have is when footballers are comfortable playing something, that's why we want to receive feedback from them.
After the final, he commented that he had analyzed seventeen United games. What led you to the conclusion of planning these types of matches and how did you convince the locker room?
nal was the first time that I told the squad that they were favorites. It is a reality, it is not to play with pressure. But in football you can find answers to combat all the extra arguments that they have and, thus, subtract that favoritism that they have and find options to win. The first round, at home, the first 45 minutes were splendid. And the feeling of them with the 2-0 at halftime was that they weren't expecting it, I did think we could surprise them. From there, we started to make decisions with the 2-0. The approach after finishing 2-1 was one of satisfaction, it could not be regrettable for having lost a goal advantage. From there, both in the lap and in the final, the responsibility lay with the rival. We played a very practical game, with no intention of opening the game, and very complete, allowing only two clear chances that weren't enough for them. And in the final we did the same. I knew that they felt like winners, and that little lack of respect in the subconscious is also used by us. They weren't going to let us think much, and at one point we lost control of what we wanted, to have the ball. Pushing them up also cost us. So we had to raise the party so that few things happened, and in those few, we find our moment. We scored a goal from a free-kick, they didn't have clear chances. We proposed a long game, in which we knew that mentally they would end up frustrated. With 1-1 we continued the same, and when they went down physically for not having found the second, in extra time, we found our game. Without having clear chances, but we even thought we could win the game.
The set piece opened the final for you, how do you integrate it into training sessions?
Today we analyze our rivals a lot. From Sunday to Sunday you have more time, but if you play Thursday and Sunday you have less time. We work the day before the game, on video, and make them aware that concentration is the same in minute 1 and minute 90. That goes for the individual and for you to be able to activate him when you perceive that he is more tired.
In your method, conviction is very important. How much has the language barrier reduced you when you have gone abroad?
The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who is a sports director about his coach, and he told me that he convinces the players, tells them how good they are and they believe it. This is how they work in a maximum emotional state. In my career I have always tried to think positively about the players, that they are going to do well, rather than thinking that they are out of shape. I had a technique with players coming off the bench. He told them “you're going to score a goal.” They went out ten times and they didn't mark it, but when they did it in the eleventh time, they thought it was because the coach had told them. The fact that the players have that conviction … the key is that they want to. We have to treat footballers as professionals, but more importantly, as people. Have individual and collective values that footballers take to the maximum. Language is important. This sports director I was talking about even told me that a very important part of me is communication, that in Spain you manage to apply that abroad there are things that may not arrive. In Moscow I started with a Russian teacher, but I stopped after a month because I saw it difficult for me to earn anything more and I continued with English. In France, I had a little knowledge of French, but the first thing I did was teach classes for a month before going. I spoke French with the team, was it good? In a high percentage yes, but to reach them? Possibly there is a part of the excuse in the language that has subtracted me, and I accept it. But Bielsa, for example, has been successful at Marseille and Leeds with a translator.
The locker room management changes from a team like Villarreal to that of PSG, how far should the flexibility of a coach go towards certain behaviors within the blessing of having players like, for example, Neymar or Mbappé?
There are several ways to approach them. There are values that some carry implicit in their head and it is easier, others with which you have to do a re-education. Then there is the mindset. We all want to win, but there are some who do more than others. Elite players, normally, carry that differentiation, otherwise they would not be there. Values… you also have to know how to be a star and it's not easy. Nobody says no to them. If I say no, I don't care if you get angry at the moment, I want you to reflect. The fact that you, as a coach, adapt to this type of footballer is also important because you have to say many things to some players, to others half and to others none. In the second or third game that Neymar played, without having worked on it, he decided to serve quickly in a corner because he saw Kurzawa in a good position and scored a goal. I thought that I usually train that play, but that with that player it was not necessary. There are players who know how to do things because of their natural talent. But of course it is easier to work with these types of players than with others.
Has Gerard Moreno's level surprised you?
Again we go to the values. Gerard Moreno arrived at the age of 14, look how long he has been at Villarreal. Soaking up their values and growing up in a very concrete atmosphere. He's reaching levels of success now, at the age of 28. He is a player who, based on those personal values, has found a very good habitat and has found a winning mentality. They are a product of the person, the club… What you like the most about your job as a coach is to improve the footballer. Also win, but that is going to be a consequence.
Within the privilege of being an elite coach, what is the toll you have to pay on a personal level?
This you have to like. I am happy inside a soccer field. All the time I devoted to it, first for personal survival, because I knew that being a player had an expiration date, and then that was what I liked. From need to passion. Even when the holidays come I need to disconnect, but two weeks go by and I already miss some things. The toll is to be out of your environment, although along the way you also make friends, you know places … all of this is well above the negative toll you pay.
What tangible dreams do you think you have yet to fulfill? Succeed abroad, coach the national team …?
In football I have learned that you cannot set goals before, you have to achieve them. I like to enjoy my profession. If you get achievements, from titles to training players of a higher level, it fills you up. But once I made the move to PSG and Arsenal, I have certain ambitions already covered. What I try is to be happy on a day-to-day basis, to create a climate of good relationships. I have found that almost always, but this year I have felt very comfortable working. But I want to go one step further with Villarreal.
What do you need to be competitive in the Champions League this year?
I want to find regularity. I return to the league, being a team capable of competing in both competitions and finding a way to always be at the top. Personally, I left the Royal Society. I have a very great feeling for this club, and I have had some opportunity, but the circumstances have never happened. I want to enjoy football, my profession … train teams that give me another leap? Yes, of course, but it is not an objective, but a circumstance that can be generated based on my journey.