UEFA Champions League: Unai Emery is a world-class coach, says Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp
India Today
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was all praise for Villarreal boss Unai Emery in his pre-match press conference ahead of the UEFA Champions League semi-final game at Anfield.
Liverpool will take on the high-flying Villarreal in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final at Anfield on Wednesday. Jurgen Klopp will face Unai Emery for the first time after the 2016 Europa League final which saw Sevilla beat Liverpool 3-1 in Basel.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said that he did a proper analysis of how Unai Emery and his team, Villarreal, play. He was all praise for Emery, saying that he is a world-class coach, who has done an incredible job at Villarreal.
"We did a proper analysis. I had a lot of respect for Unai Emery and Villarreal before, because I saw the games with Bayern and Juventus and a little bit and wow! Impressive. Unai is a detail-obsessed manager who prepares for all different situations in the game and that's what his team is doing.
“It's really, really good, different ways to build-up, different ways to press, different ways to react to results. He is a world class coach who is doing an incredible job there,” Jurgen Klopp said to the broadcasters in his pre-match press conference ahead of the game against Villarreal.
Unai Emery has been very successful in European competitions, winning the Europa League a total of four times, including three in a row with Sevilla, and one with Villareal last season, beating Manchester United in the final.
Emery’s hat-trick with Sevilla came when he beat Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the 2016 final. The German said that the final was the 64th game of a tough Liverpool season, adding that the Europa League game cannot be compared to the game on April 27.
"It was important, I said that night I thought that we'd come back without knowing, but from that moment I thought we'd come back stronger. And we did. That night was a tough one to take. It was game number 64 of that season, a tough season. We cannot really compare football games," Jurgen Klopp said.
