Emery insists ending Arsenal's 25-year European trophy drought 'more important than getting into Champions League'

UNAI EMERY insists that ending Arsenal’s 25-year wait for a European trophy is more important to him than gaining access to the Champions League.

The Spaniard returns to former club Valencia with his team defending a 3-1 lead from the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

And having won this competition three times before with Sevilla, Emery actually has more European titles than Arsenal have managed in their entire history.

With a top four Premier League finish now all but impossible, Emery is under mounting pressure to win the Europa League to deliver a return to Champions League football next season.

But he insists: “Arsenal have only two European titles in their history; the old Fairs Cup and the Cup-Winners’ Cup, neither of which still exist, so I have a lot of ambition to win this title.

“When I was here at Valencia the primary objective was to get a Champions League place, but when I went to Sevilla the president Jose Maria Del Nido asked me, ‘Have you been to a final?’

“When I said I hadn’t he told me ‘you’ll see that is like’ because at Sevilla that was what motivated us.

"The feeling of playing in a cup final was bigger than getting a Champions League place.

TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED

“I first competed for this title with Valencia when it was still the Uefa Cup and it was a lesser competition than it is now.

“The first time I won the Europa League with Sevilla we didn’t get Champions League access.

"The second time we did and that is a fair reward which makes the competition more attractive.

“So now the demands are very high and for a club like Arsenal, winning titles has to be an objective and not just as a way into the Champions League.”

Having watched Liverpool overturn a three-goal deficit against Barcelona on Wednesday night, Emery will be taking nothing for granted in the passionate atmosphere of the Mestalla this evening.

He says: “It’s the same message as it was for the first leg. This tie is still 50-50 and the result at the Emirates does not change my idea.

“Our idea is to play to win this match and to do that we need to score. We know it is going to be very difficult but we will play with ambition and full motivation.

“I am not feeling pressure, I am feeling very positive. I want to enjoy this game, a semi-final in an awesome stadium like this with the chance to do something.

“I have many friends at Valencia and I wish we were playing them in the final, but I am a professional and I will be defending the Arsenal team and our supporters.”

Likely Arsenal line-up (3-4-1-2): Cech; Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal; Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Xhaka, Kolasinac; Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette.

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