Unai Emery didn't like my question in Aston Villa's pre-Bologna press conference, but Youri Tielemans saw the funny side
Aston Villa manager Youri Tielemans and midfielder Youri Tielemans
Aston Villa manager Youri Tielemans and midfielder Youri Tielemans(Image: Getty Images)
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I didn’t expect to go viral when Unai Emery gave me a telling-off for even suggesting the idea of looking ahead to a potential semi-final first leg.
There were five players walking a disciplinary tightrope heading into the second leg against Bologna, with the likes of Morgan Rogers, John McGinn, and Matty Cash all at risk of suspension for a potential semi-final first leg if they picked up a booking.
Without hesitation, after a quick translation of my question from Damian Vidagany, Emery replied: “It is a mistake.” Youri Tielemans seemed to anticipate Emery’s intense response, and when it came, he struggled to contain himself, which made the short clip even better.
On Claret & Blue, we even dedicated a mini-episode to it, given the number of messages our Mailbag received.
I explained: “So when he said ‘it's a mistake’, I had two thoughts. The first was - go on, Unai, go after the rules! I thought this was a mistake of, you know, why do these rules still apply so deep into the European campaign? Why could my players get banned?
“Then I thought that he's trying to say that I've got it wrong - like the players wrong, or just that I'm wrong that those players won't miss the game. But I knew I was right, because I'm not going to put anything out without double-checking and knowing I'm absolutely correct.
“I then said, ‘I’ve made a mistake? Me?’ And he said, ‘Yes, yes, it's a mistake for you to ask’. And I think he said, ‘It’s a mistake if I answer it’. And then I thought, ah okay, got it. He's basically saying we're not in the semi-final yet.
“Neither did I mean that, as I was talking about the quarter-final second leg, but I couldn’t help but laugh myself when I clocked Youri Tielemans struggling to keep it together.
“I’m not sure if Damian emphasised ‘possible semi-final first leg,’ but anyway, it must have been in the team’s thoughts as McGinn said after the game that ‘we had to protect ourselves’ in the second half and Emery spoke about how it was still an objective to avoid those bookings.
“I would say - if I get my receipts out - I did say in the Claret & Brew show we did that when we were asked the question about the situation, I said that we have to play our strongest team - you have to play your best team to get the job done.
“I always say that for any game - play the best team you can, field the best team you can, because we need to win this competition. That’s exactly what Emery did, but I must admit I wanted those players off at half-time.
“Listen, it’s completely normal normal for Unai to have these sorts of reactions, and you probably don't see it in the broadcast sections, but believe me you've missed out on some great moments from the written sections that would have been clipped up.
“And this isn't me being defensive or anything - I think it's brilliant. I had a laugh in the moment. I thought, ‘Ah, I've made a mistake here, this is going to look terrible, and I'm going to have to go back to Unai and say I think I'm right on this one’. But obviously that wasn't what he intended. It was that we have no interest in the semi-final yet.
“What we see of Unai - and this is why I was myself kind of surprised it went viral, people kind of lapping it up - I think it's brilliant. It's funny, I think it's a great clip. Youri laughing makes it 10 times better.
“But this sort of thing has happened and will happen again in the written sections. This is Unai, and we know he's had some brilliant moments.
“You don’t intend to wind a manager up, but you want to see that different side to him, rather than a more basic answer like ‘tomorrow we want to win the game and be demanding and competitive’.
“Emery saying that he will play his best players for the game despite having five players who could miss a semi-final first leg - that is newsworthy. I’m sure there was a portion of fans who weren’t aware about the suspension situation.
“We know what Unai's like. He doesn't want any feeling of comfort or looking into the future in any of these press conferences. He doesn't want it in the training ground. He doesn't want to talk like that - because he knows the press conferences are an opportunity to give his message across.
“This is why he will always talk up opposition managers and opposition teams, or sends a message to his players, his fans, his staff, whatever. So me asking that question, he gets that answer out of him. And as I say, I was happy it worked out like it did - not to start with, because I did think I'd made a bad error here!
“But no, he's absolutely fine in the end. And like, I think it's good. I think it's great.”
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