Football
Jonathan Johnson, PSG correspondent 7y

Unai Emery wants PSG to show Barca "accident" behind them vs. Lyon

Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery wants his players to prove in Sunday's Ligue 1 clash at home to Lyon that they are well and truly over their recent UEFA Champions League elimination at the hands of Barcelona.

The French champions beat Lorient 2-1 away in Le Championnat last Sunday but this weekend's meeting against a Lyon side that dumped Roma out of the UEFA Europa League a few days earlier will be a much tougher proposition.

Emery believes his squad are over their humiliating 6-1 defeat in Barcelona, which completed an agonising 6-5 round-of-16 aggregate loss, and wants his team to show that their haunting Camp Nou experience is no longer an issue mentally.

"After the defeat in Barcelona, the team showed in Lorient that we want to continue our quest to finish top of Ligue 1," Emery told journalists at his prematch news conference on Saturday.

"We failed to qualify for the next round of the Champions League in Barcelona but we still have three objectives left to aim for in the league, the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue.

"This match, against an in-form Lyon, needs to confirm that the squad is fine after what happened in Spain. It is a big game!"

Emery not only wants to ensure that the Barcelona loss is out of his players' systems, he also stressed the importance of getting it off the fans' minds as well.

"We want to continue our good recent run, having won 15 of our last 18 matches," he said at Camp des Loges. "Our aim is to build up some confidence and to regain the trust of our supporters.

"The Lyon game is a great opportunity to show that the team still has the same expectations as before.

"At home, we must give everything to win. We have occasionally experienced difficult matches. This clash with OL needs to prove that our Champions League exit was an accident."

As far as squad news goes, Emery confirmed right-back Thomas Meunier is out through injury but aside from the banned Presnel Kimpembe, he has a full squad available after Thiago Motta, Blaise Matuidi and Layvin Kurzawa returned to training.

"Thomas is the only player out through injury," the 45-year-old from Hondarribia revealed. "Presnel is suspended. Thiago, Blaise and Layvin are back in training with the rest of the squad, so they will be in the group for the match."

Emery also confirmed that Serge Aurier will replace Meunier and that the Ivory Coast international has trained well all week after coming in for criticism after it took him nearly 10 minutes to be ready to come on and replace his teammate in Lorient last week.

"With Thomas out, Serge is my first choice at right-back," Emery said. "I have confidence in him. He has worked very well this week and has shown plenty of determination and concentration.

"I am sure that he will take his chance and put in a good performance."

^ Back to Top ^