Unai Emery presented Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola with a gift on behalf of Aston Villa before his final match in charge at Manchester City. This marked the 19th meeting between the two Spanish managers, with Emery having faced only Marcelino more frequently in his career.
City fans unveiled tifos for the departing Guardiola, as well as Bernardo Silva and John Stones, ahead of kick-off at the Etihad Stadium. Shortly after, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager emerged from the tunnel. After embracing Emery, Guardiola was presented with a black box featuring a golden Aston Villa crest on top. Cameras captured what appeared to be a small replica of the lion statue located in the North Grounds at Villa Park.
Emery's Admiration for Guardiola
Ahead of the final-day meeting in Manchester, Emery spoke of his admiration for Guardiola. 'For us on Sunday, it's my pleasure to play against Guardiola. It's my pleasure, it's my honour to face him. I started facing him in 2008/09, he started training in Barcelona and I was starting in Valencia,' he said.
'And four years in a row, we were competing, Barcelona, Valencia, (it) was his best moment in Barcelona. Amazing how they were playing, his impact was crazy good, and we were always finishing third. And I didn't beat him. Valencia didn't beat Barcelona, Unai Emery didn't beat Guardiola, and they were asking me in the press conference, 'you can't beat Guardiola'. And I was answering, 'if I am keeping for a long time, my position here, to face him is really being fantastic'. And now, on Sunday, I'm going to play against him.'
'It's my honour, my pleasure, because he's the best coach in the world. Clearly, he's a huge inspiration for other coaches. The only genius is him, and as a competitive, he's always, every day, because I can identify and I can understand more, watching how he's managing his team through the chapters in different medias on Amazon or YouTube or everything. I watched in those chapters how he's coaching and managing the team and how he's showing his personality, because I've never watched him training immediately. I never knew how he was developing as a coach, only competing against him, but through the chapters, I can understand better, his way in football, and he's the best.'
'And of course, for me, it's a huge pleasure to play on Sunday, to compete against him. I beat him here after a long time, I beat him here with Aston Villa, Manchester City, and always how he showed me massive respect is something I appreciate a lot. For me, he's the best coach, but as well as a person, he's fantastic. I respect him because I think he's humble. He's always so respectful with me, and I can watch as well with other coaches, and in football, and even in the life.'
'I really appreciate him a lot, but how he's representing as well, himself, not only as a coach, as a manager, as well as a person. And for me, it's a huge respect, a huge pleasure, always when I am facing him, and I can take a small conversation. The best conversation I had here with him, always was the last matches we played together, here with Aston Villa and Manchester City, and it was a very interesting conversation about how we were both understanding football and understanding the competitive way we are, and the respect as well.'
'I started competing with him and having some conversations 20 years ago, and now getting mature, getting more experiences, I like to speak with him five minutes and speak about everything.'
