In Baku on Wednesday, Unai Emery will take charge of his 80th match in the Uefa Europa League. It is a competition that has blessed him more than any other coach over its decade of existence. It’s also a competition that a part of Emery would happily say farewell to forever.
That’s because, even with its new name - it was the Uefa Cup until 10 years ago - and its status improved by the bonus that allows its winners to enter the next Champions League, the Europa League cannot escape its stigma: It will only ever be the second best of Europe’s club tournaments.
For Emery, the distinction of having won it a record three times in a row, as he did with Sevilla in a remarkable spell from 2014, remains a double-edged compliment. Or it will be until he arrives closer to the podium of the main European Cup.
At stake on Wednesday, in his fourth Europa League final, is how long he must wait for his next chance to do that. Finish second to Chelsea in Baku, and Emery will be overseeing his 81st Europa League match in September.
Win this London derby-at-a-distance and the prize is the right to unofficially name this trophy the ‘Emery Cup’ and, more importantly, gain a spot for Arsenal in the group stage of the 2019-20 Uefa Champions League, a competition that has dealt Emery some heavy knocks, notably during his two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain.
Emery spent two years in Paris. They were stressful and, ultimately, fell short of PSG’s high, impatient requirements. His first season at Arsenal has been steady, but tantalising: much that was good, long passages that looked like upward momentum, but then a late-season slump that carried a heavy price.
By the end of March, Arsenal had a top four finish in the Premier League in their grasp. It would be snatched away in a horrible April sequence of three successive defeats.
The outcome was a fifth-placed finish, and so a maximum load on the outcome of the Europa League final.
Lose it, and 2018-19 campaign will seem little better than an extension of the gradual, but perceptible decline of the later years under his long-serving predecessor, Arsene Wenger.
There are grounds for optimism, even if Emery is deprived of one important, experienced squad man because of the Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s uncomfortable absence - he cited fears for his safety in Azerbaijan, which has no diplomatic relationship with Armenia - and others, such as Aaron Ramsey and Hector Bellerin, because of injury.
But he is a coach who seeks out solutions, as he has done in finding ways to best finesse the combinations of strikers Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and in building up the self-belief of a clutch of younger players over the last nine months.
Moreover, some of Arsenal’s most swaggering performances in the Emery era have been produced in the Europa League - the quarter- and semi-final wins over Napoli and Valencia - while one of their most accomplished displays in the league in 2019 was a 2-0 victory over Chelsea.
The echoes from that fixture still resonate. Maurizio Sarri, Chelsea’s manager spoke candidly after that loss about his failure to gee up his players. “They are difficult to motivate,” said the Italian. Emery’s Arsenal were not.
Although Emery's spoken English remains imperfect, the rigorous match-planning and energy that are his trademarks appear to have transmitted to his players.
Attention to detail has always been a forte. Juan Mata, the Manchester United and Spain attacking midfielder who rose to stardom working under Emery at Valencia, says: “If there was one thing I learned above all with Unai, it was to never think details were arbitrary.
"With him, you worked and worked, you stop training and go over something again and again until you got it right.”
At Arsenal, a season with Emery has persuaded Sokratis Papastathopoulos, the worldly Greek defender, of this manager’s all-round excellence. Sokratis, who joined from Borussia Dortmund last summer, boldly declares Emery “the best coach I had in my career,” while listing the other distinguished ones he has known: Max Allegri, at AC Milan; Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel at Dortmund.
“I say that because of how I have improved under him. I play faster than I did two or three years ago. I think more and I make better decisions.”
He has respect from Wednesday's opposition, too. Chelsea’s David Luiz, the Chelsea defender, coincided with Emery at PSG, and remembers “his passion".
"He loves his work and he builds teams with spirit," he adds. "You can see that at Arsenal. He’s had the opportunity to work with a lot of young players and he’s gained the trust of the players, and the club. He’s a great coach. Especially in this competition."
