Current and former Arsenal managers Mikel Arteta and Unai Emery will contend for a place in the Europa League Final on Thursday.
Villarreal are going to be a tough force to contend with as Mikel Arteta's predecessor Unai Emery has developed a flurry of success at the Spanish club influenced by his talisman striker Gerard Moreno as he seeks redemption.
The sides' UCL finals bout in 2006
However firstly we must mention, in 2006 these sides met in a highly anticipated match in the Champions League semi-final which Arsenal won 1-0 in across two legs. It was the inaugural chance for both teams to pick up a major European trophy but Arsenal consequently faced another Spanish side in the final, Barcelona, who they lost out to thanks to the magic of iconic attackers Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho.
It was the final European night at Highbury and one to remember. Arsenal achieved 10 clean sheets in a row that year and 995 minutes between conceding goals in the Champions League. Despite their dismal performances in their domestic league, they flourished in Europe, beating Real Madrid and Juventus and on that night The Yellow Submarine (Villarreal's nickname inspired by the Beatles) thanks to Kolo Toure.
Kolo Toure celebrating his goal in the UCL Semi-Final vs Villarreal. Arsenal.com
This was the only final Arsenal had ever reached and their chance to assert their dominance that they so clearly bestowed during their invincible season two years prior was wasted.
Emery vs Arteta
Arsenal and Emery had an uneasy relationship with a promising first half leading to a spell of devastating managerial status that ultimately reinforced his sack on 29th November 2019. However, the Spaniard has a remarkable trait upon him in the form of winning Europa League titles on a consecutive and frequent basis.
He has the chance to strike again with his current Spanish club after his 3 successive Europa League wins with Sevilla was prior to spells at PSG and English club Arsenal where he reached the underwhelming final against Chelsea in the 2018/19 campaign.
Arteta and Arsenal really haven't been much better following the departure of the fellow Spaniard. The Gunners sit in a measly 10th place in the Premier League currently and experienced their worst start to the season since 1974.
Arsenal's Spanish Managers:
Unai Emery had considerably more chaotic games with more goals conceded and scored that today's Arsenal side but this seemed to pay off for him in terms of total win percentage.
Even over the course of this campaign, Emery leads on victories after Arsenal splashed out on Thomas Partey, Willian and Gabriel in last summer's transfer window.
The Three Spanish Coaches:
The differing tactics and philosophies are clearly outlined in the matches and both of their respected clubs have opposed style of players. Emery is a conservative coach but relies significantly on midfield superiority, through balls and playing out from back. Arteta however, demands high intensity movement and fluidity, ruthless attacking intent and for a midfielder to drop deeper to receive the ball.
Pep Guardiola, his friend from La Masia, was Manchester City assistant coach Mikel's mentor and obviously a very good one.
The Spanish managers were all interconnected in some way which Emery revealed: “We spoke a little bit about what I lived in Arsenal, in a positive way, as I experienced. I just told him about what I had lived through, as two working colleagues.
“Of course I knew Arteta before. He is from Donostia (San Sebastian) – just like me. We were practically neighbours so I have a lot of admiration for him as a footballer and now as a coach, working with Guardiola and Arsenal."
On the eve of their first meeting in opposite dugouts, Arteta revealed he had spoken to Emery before being appointed – with his predecessor later explaining an extra motive for the chat.
“It was a common friend that interceded and he was OK to speak to me, had nothing against it and it was good for me too as I had to leave my home in London,” he said.
“Maybe the house would be interesting for him, so maybe he would be interested to see the house?
“So apart from talking about my job at Arsenal and football I suggested he take over my house, finally I think it was a player who took it in the end."
Emery's comments heading into the semi-final first leg at home: "Well as for the game plan I'm sure Arteta will have given them a personal touch. This is what I tried to do," he told press ahead of the clash.
"From that point onwards they have top quality players - Ceballos, Odegard, Saka - quick players - Aubameyang , Bukayo, Martinelli. They have very quick players on the side like Bellerin.
"But they have a very solid defensive structure, they can do a passing structure. It’s going to be a very tough match. A very demanding team Arsenal. They’re going to be very demanding in terms of positional game.
"It’s a very recognisable Arsenal. They have a very marked identity and they show a lot of progress with Arteta."We need to play our passing game ourselves. The minute you let them run they have very speedy players like Pepe with plenty of space.
"They have lots of individual arguments where they can make a cocktail. We have to be very aware of players like Aubameyang and Lacazette, but they have many different types of players, many different game plans and many ways to execute their game plan on the pitch and we need to be ready for that.
Villareal and Arsenal have been in scintillating Europa League form but the decisive edge of this tie could come down to the superiority of the team's respected attacking pairs. Gerad Moreno and 27-year-old former Barcelona man Paco Alcaer. Moreno has 26 goals which is the same as the established and regarded as world-class Englishman Harry Kane and the later of the pair has an outrageous 91% shot accuracy from all of his 7 European appearances.
The post-Arsene Wenger era men will battle to attempt to crucially squeeze out some inspiration and discipline out of their players in the semi-finals as Emery has a chance to take down the club he was ruthlessly dismissed from and Arteta looks to pick up silvarware to save The Londoners' season and dismantle Emery's unbelievable Europa League streak.
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