When Bayern Munich were assessing the contenders to be their new coach earlier this year, the decision-makers’ minds drifted to the spring of 2022 and their shock elimination from the Champions League.
Unai Emery masterminded one of the competition’s most surprising results of recent times as he led Villarreal past Bayern and into the semi-finals.
From that moment, Bayern executives have kept a close eye on Emery and when they decided Thomas Tuchel was no longer their man towards the end of last season, they gave more than a passing thought towards hiring Emery. His Aston Villa side take on Bayern in the Champions League at Villa Park on Wednesday, a repeat of the 1982 European Cup Final when Villa beat Bayern 1-0.
In the end the move never really left the runway. Emery has a level of control at Villa that in the Premier League is matched only by Pep Guardiola, and he drives every football decision at Villa Park. That can never be the case for a coach at Bayern, which is perhaps the most political club in Europe.
In 2015 Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris took a six per cent stake in sportswear giant Adidas, who also have an 8.33 per cent share in Bayern.
Bayern Munich executives considered Unai Emery when searching for a coach last summer
The German side have kept an eye on Emery since their Champions League exit in 2022
Emery's Aston Villa side will aim to replicate Villarreal's win against Bayern on Wednesday
Had the German giants moved for Emery, it would certainly have rocked a few boats. Emery duly signed a new five-year deal at Villa Park while Bayern eventually opted for Vincent Kompany.
Yet Bayern know what Emery can deliver and as they prepare for their Champions League clash at Villa Park, it will not be the defeat to Villa in Rotterdam 42 years ago that will be worrying them.
As six-times winners of this title, Bayern are used to having their own way in continental competition but the man in the home dugout will certainly send a few shivers down their spine.
The quarter-final in 2022 looked a mismatch in every sense. Bayern’s squad was valued at about £658million, Villarreal’s at £340m. The Spanish club had won the Europa League the previous season but were seventh in La Liga when they faced Bayern and had a turnover of £100m, compared with Bayern’s £555m. Bayern were on their way to a 10th straight Bundesliga title.
The capacity of the Allianz Arena is 75,000, whereas the Estadio de la Ceramica’s is just 23,000. Villarreal should not have been able to get close, especially after Bayern had swatted aside Red Bull Salzburg 8-2 on aggregate in the previous round.
Emery masterminded Villarreal's shock victory over Bayern in the 2022 quarter-finals
Samuel Chukwueze's counter attack goal against Bayern had been mastered in training
Villarreal certainly got close, all right. They were tactically perfect in winning the home leg 1-0 and Samuel Chukwueze’s late equaliser in Munich in the second rewarded more strategic brilliance and took them through. Mail Sport can reveal that the counter-attack that led to Chukwueze’s goal had been practised repeatedly on the Villarreal training ground, as though it were a set piece.
Daniel Parejo found Giovani Lo Celso, who carried the ball forward before releasing Gerard Moreno. Moreno’s cross to the far post was perfect and Chukwueze did the rest. It was vindication in a single move of Emery’s relentless attention to detail, painstaking positional work and long afternoons in front of the video.
Villarreal eventually lost narrowly to Liverpool in the semi-final but Bayern have kept a close eye on Emery ever since and though they will be favourites against Villa, they would be foolish to underestimate their opponents.
Emery has been in the dugout for 187 European club fixtures, Kompany one. Indeed, Emery has won four times as many European trophies as Kompany has taken charge of matches at continental level.
The one-off games against favoured opposition are where Emery comes alive as he spends hours in front of the laptop, looking for the smallest weakness to exploit. Does Kompany have that in his locker yet?
Vincent Kompany has made an encouraging start to life as Bayern Munich's manager
Kompany is short of Emery's European experience, with Villa's boss an expert in one-off games
He took Burnley to the Championship title in 2023 by aping Guardiola-style football and was promptly relegated after refusing to tweak his principles until it was too late. It is hard to imagine Emery being similarly stubborn.
Kompany has made an encouraging start at Bayern, however. A seriously smart individual, the Belgian has been sure-footed behind the scenes and his team are coming together on the field, too. Leverkusen broke Bayern’s sequence of 11 straight titles last season, though, and the pressure could not be higher on Kompany to ensure normal service is resumed.
That is why when they visit Villa Park, the Bayern directors could be forgiven for wondering what might have been.