‘He’s the king’: Jurgen Klopp hails ‘unbelievable’ man who Arsenal let go in 2019

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Unai Emery has gone on to achieve incredible things since facing the sack at Arsenal and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is the latest to lavish praise on the Spaniard.

Emery helped Villarreal win the Europa League in his first season there and he has now led the Yellow Submarine to the semi-final of the Champions League after knocking out Juventus and Bayern Munich along the way.

Up next for Villarreal is Liverpool, who got past Benfica in a hugely eventful game yesterday.

Klopp’s side are the favourites to beat the Spaniards and possibly even to win the whole competition. However, the Liverpool boss will not take Villarreal lightly as he believes that Emery is ‘the king’ of cup competitions.

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Jurgen Klopp: Ex-Arsenal boss Unai Emery is the king of cups

Speaking to BT Sport about the semi-final against Villarreal, Klopp said: “I obviously saw the results, I saw last night, the game was very impressive, I must say, really good defending.

“I only picked up pieces but (a team) who kicks out Juventus and kicks out Bayern deserves to be in the (Champions League) semi-finals, it’s Villarreal.

“(Unai Emery) is an extremely experienced manager who’s kind of the king of the cups, it is unbelievable what he is doing, Unai. When we play them we’ll be ready, but give me a bit of time to prepare properly.”

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Arsenal sacked Unai Emery in 2019 and although the mood around the club and the football at the Emirates has improved, the Gunners are yet to match the fifth-place finish that they achieved in the 2018/19 season under the Spaniard.

Emery’s achievements with Villarreal, especially over the last two months in the Champions League, have given rise to some pundits and the media to have a real go at Arsenal for not giving the Spaniard enough time.

Some argue that Arsenal would be in a much better place today had they stuck by Emery in 2019, but we must say, the Spaniard and the Gunners were never really the right fit, and we can’t imagine how things could’ve improved under him at the Emirates.

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