Unai Emery won the first battle against his former club on Thursday as Villarreal defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the first leg of the Europa League semifinals.
Manu Trigueros and Raúl Albiol scored first-half goals to give the Spanish club the edge ahead of next week’s second leg in London. The English side pulled one closer with a penalty kick converted by Nicolas Pepe in the 73rd.
“We played a good match,” Emery said. “It’s a bit unfair that we didn’t get a better result, but it’s still a victory and we will try to finish the job in the second match.”
“In the end we allowed them to stay alive,” Trigueros said. “We won, but looking at the match we should have done better. They leave with a bigger prize than they deserved.”
Villarreal is making its fifth attempt to reach a European final, having failed on all previous occasions, including against Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League and against Liverpool in the 2016 Europa League.
Arsenal is trying to return to the Europa League final for the second time in three years after losing the title to Chelsea in 2019 while under Emery’s command. That final was one of the highlights of the Spanish coach during his turbulent 18 months with Arsenal. He is in his first season with Villarreal after being fired by the English club in November 2019.
Emery has thrived in the Europa League, having led Sevilla to three straight titles from 2014-16.
There were few significant scoring chances for either team at the Cerâmica stadium, but the hosts capitalized on their opportunities in the first half.
Villarreal opened the scoring five minutes into the match, with Trigueros finding the net with a low shot from inside the area after the Arsenal defense failed to clear the ball inside the area.