Neymar called it one of the most important goals in Barcelona’s history. Sergi Roberto could not sleep after scoring it. The image of the conquering Lionel Messi was everywhere. Many regard it as the Champions League comeback of the century.
For Unai Emery, La Remontada, Barcelona’s 6-1 victory over his Paris Saint-Germain side in 2017, overturning a four-goal deficit from the first leg in France, represents something rather different. It was an astonishing defeat that threatened to define him.
Emery had won acclaim at Valencia and a trio of European trophies at Sevilla but PSG was his chance to make memories in the Champions League – and this was not the sort that the Qatari owners had in mind. They even lost their domestic title to Monaco.
That was at least reclaimed under Emery the following year as he guided PSG to a domestic quadruple but the ripple effects of that night in Barcelona resonated, nevertheless. They shaped his team selection in losing to Real Madrid in 2018 and even the trajectory of his career.
Eight years on, Emery faces not just his former club for the first time since his exit but Luis Enrique too, now PSG head coach himself. The man who famously proclaimed that “if they can score four, we can score six” and was somehow sensationally proven right.
Is Emery over it? He has achieved enough to be relaxed about a reunion. Yet another Europa League win with Villarreal. Taking Aston Villa to a level the club has not seen in over 40 years. But in our first interview after taking over at Villa, he was the one who brought this up.
“I won the Europa League four times,” he told Sky Sports. “That is a lot of experience and a lot of competitive moments. And I had some defeats as well, like with PSG when we lost against Barcelona, for example, 6-1. And that experience helped me to improve.”
Unai Emery shares his thoughts on Marco Asensio’s quick impact at Aston Villa
That was not the overriding emotion at the time. Neymar had hinted at Barcelona’s belief beforehand. “We have the team. We can make history.” Afterwards, Emery took a less romantic view. “We were eliminated because VAR did not exist yet,” he complained.
It was a curious evening. Barcelona had shown their vulnerability at the Parc des Princes but an enfeebled PSG did not opt to test them again in the Camp Nou, courting the possibility of a comeback by sitting back and conceding two goals in the first half.
Barcelona’s Neymar celebrates a goal as PSG wilt under the pressure in the Camp Nou
Messi made it three from the penalty spot early in the second but Edinson Cavani’s goal silenced the crowd and seemed to all but end Barca’s hopes, the away-goal rule meaning they needed three more. They still needed those three goals going into the 88th minute.
It was in that intervening period that PSG felt robbed. Javier Mascherano lunged in on Angel Di Maria as he prepared to shoot. The ball looped over. No penalty came. “It is clear that it was a foul,” said Mascherano afterwards. “I am not going to lie about it.”
Emery was critical of the officials. “We had chances to make it 3-2 and then the refereeing decisions, I do not know if they were right or not, but for sure they damaged us.” It was not as damaging as what came next. “Then, in the last minutes, we lost everything.”
Sergi Roberto of Barcelona celebrates after scoring his famous goal against PSG
What happened in those closing minutes is the stuff of legend. Neymar took centre stage, scoring two and setting up the last in the fifth minute of stoppage-time. Messi still stole the front covers. That is said to have played its part in persuading Neymar to move on.
Lucas Digne, now of Villa, watched from the Barcelona bench, but Emery felt like a bystander too in the other dugout. The perception was that when the time came for PSG to show they were ready to beat Europe’s elite, his team had shied from the challenge.
“In that period of the game, I saw that an important player for us, who had had problems during the week, was hiding himself away,” said Emery, cryptically. “Perhaps I should have changed him. Those small things are what can see a game slip away from you.”
Unai Emery reacts at the end of PSG’s Champions League defeat to Barcelona
He did not name the player at the time, although some later concluded that Emery had regretted his decision to recall Thiago Silva, the great defender whose fitness had been in doubt. He had missed the first leg. The temptation was to stick with the back four.
Emery, presumably swayed by the notion that the Brazilian’s experience would be needed in the cauldron of the Camp Nou, brought him back in. A coach noted for his analytical approach valued the psychological intangibles over his tactical instincts.
Speaking three years later, long after his departure from Paris, and having surprisingly omitted Silva from his side in the following season’s exit to Real Madrid, Emery openly discussed his dilemma over the defender. “I wanted the team to defend higher,” he said.
“Thiago Silva is a super player but I wanted him to defend higher and I did not succeed in convincing him to accept that. I wanted him to leave his comfort zone so that the general pressure that our team was putting on the opposition could be more effective.
“I worked with him to accept that but did not succeed. This trait in Thiago Silva’s game reverberated across the rest of the team who, under pressure, had a natural tendency to retreat. At Camp Nou, I gave the instruction to move higher up. But it was not heard.”
Unai Emery looks frustrated as Luis Enrique looks on during their showdown in Barcelona
Emery is not a man to forget the details and this is clearly one that has stayed with him. Perhaps it always will. Those questions come again this week as he returns to Paris with Villa in this Champions League quarter-final, with PSG still chasing that elusive trophy.
Speaking to Kevin Trapp, the goalkeeper who let in six goals that night, he said: “I always try to convince everybody that game does not matter anymore for me.” But it helps that Trapp went back to Barcelona with Eintracht Frankfurt and knocked them out of Europe.
Such is football. There is always another game. A point perceptively, and perhaps now prophetically, made by Luis Enrique that night in 2017. “We had lost everything in Paris. But this wonderful sport is unique. It always gives you the chance for revenge.”
Maybe this is Emery’s turn.
