Ahead of the Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester United, the Spanish club’s coach Unai Emery has opened up about his discussion with the legendary former manager of the English club, Sir Alex Ferguson.Emery has won the Europa League three consecutive times with Sevilla from 2014-16 and also led Arsenal to the final in 2019.
However, the Spaniard has not been able to translate his magic in the Champions League — the top European league, and was asked the same by Ferguson.
“Alex Ferguson, who was playing in the Champions League with Manchester United every year, said ‘but Unai, you’ll want to win the Champions League, right?’ And I said: ‘Yes, if I have the chance to. But if I can’t, I want to go into the Europa League and strengthen it’,” Emery told ESPN.
The Villarreal coach said the Champions League is mainly won by the eight teams that have been winning it, though there is an exception once in a while. He added that the rest of the teams are happy to compete for the Europa League title and make their fans happy.
The Europa League final is also important for Villarreal as the title will ensure their place in the next season of Champions League. Manchester United, on the other hand, have already qualified through their final standing in the Premier League.
Though Emery’s men will go to the final as the underdogs, Manchester United Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will not make the mistake of thinking the game a cakewalk. More so because Villarreal has reached the final after defeating United’s rivals Arsenal in the semis.
And seeing Emery’s past record in Europa League, fans can be assured of a great game between Villarreal and Manchester United on Wednesday.The final will take place in Gdansk, Poland. The match will start at 12:30 am IST on Thursday. The match will be broadcast on Sony TEN 2 and Sony TEN 2 HD.
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