Manchester City are strong favourites against Arsenal on Super Sunday but Unai Emery’s history with Pep Guardiola suggests it could be closer than many expect. Nick Wright revisits their rivalry and finds out how Emery’s Valencia became a formidable foe for Guardiola’s Barcelona.
On the face of it, Unai Emery’s record against Pep Guardiola does not offer much hope to Arsenal supporters ahead of Sunday’s Premier League opener against Manchester City. The two men are familiar foes from their days in charge of Valencia and Barcelona between 2008 and 2012. But Emery did not win any of their 10 meetings.
It is just one of the reasons why City are so strongly fancied to make a winning start to their title defence at the Emirates Stadium. The work has only just begun for Arsenal under their new head coach, but City were irresistible last season and picked up where they left off against Chelsea on Sunday. Emery has never beaten Guardiola. Why should that change now?
It is certainly a daunting start, but Emery’s record of no wins, four draws and six losses against Guardiola is somewhat deceptive. In reality, he tested the Catalan like few other managers in La Liga. Barcelona inflicted some heavy defeats at the Nou Camp, but they only won once in five games at Mestalla. Guardiola had a better record at the Bernabeu than he did there.
It could easily have been worse for him, too. Barcelona were historically good under Guardiola, perhaps the best club side of all-time, but in four of those five meetings at Mestalla they had to come from behind to draw. At a time when Barcelona were sweeping aside all before them, games against Valencia were usually tense and tactically tight.
“I have a great, great, great opinion of Unai,” said Guardiola in 2011. “When you watch his teams, you can see there is sense to everything they do. It’s not by chance that in recent years they have rivalled two teams with much higher budgets like Barcelona and Real Madrid.”
Emery kept Valencia punching above their weight, guiding them to three consecutive third-place finishes in La Liga despite a dire financial situation and the sales of key players such as David Villa, David Silva, Raul Albiol and Juan Mata. His managerial acumen was clear to Guardiola and it was not lost on his players, either.
“Barcelona were maybe the best team ever at that time, but we always had this feeling against them,” former Dutch international Hedwiges Maduro, who also played under Emery at Sevilla, tells Sky Sports. “We knew they were better than us, but we always felt we could give them a game.”
That sense of belief was carefully nurtured by Emery. “It was never just about 11 players with him,” says Maduro. “He was a very good coach and manager because he always thought about the group, even the doctors and the staff around the team. Even if you don’t play, you are still important. He believes that attitude gets you results. It’s important to him.”
Emery needed that collective spirit not just to continue exceeding expectations, but also to execute complex and varied game-plans. “You can have a philosophy, but if the players don’t believe in it, then it’s impossible to make it work at 100 per cent,” says Maduro. “When players have confidence and belief in the tactics, it’s a big thing.”
It was certainly a big thing for Emery at Valencia. The Spaniard is known for a fast-paced, high-pressing playing style, but unlike his Arsenal predecessor Arsene Wenger, whose reluctance to adapt his approach was so often their undoing in the big games, he is not wedded to one particular approach. Instead, he is tactically flexible.