Unai Emery insists he's happy to keep competing for the Europa League, even if Sir Alex Ferguson once mocked him over his near-constant presence in it.
The Arsenal boss had a chance to lift the trophy for a fourth time in May when his Gunners side took on Chelsea in the final in Baku, only for the Blues to run out 4-1 winners.
When he was at Sevilla the Spanish boss won the trophy in three successive seasons between 2014 and 2016, beating Benfica, Dnipro and Liverpool respectively in the finals, and he says his run prompted some cheeky advice from managerial icon Ferguson.
"One day we were in Nyon for the coaches meeting and I was defending a lot the Europa League, and he – Ferguson – asked me, 'But really Unai, do you not prefer to win the Champions League?' Emery told Soccer AM .
"Yes of course! He didn’t need to say it! But at that moment I can be happy and I can defend the Europa League because also I think the UEFA people improve a lot this competition.
"But really, really the first is the Champions League – okay."
Emery also recalled lifting the trophy for the first time with that victory over Benfica in Turin in 2014.
"My first trophy was the Europa League with Sevilla, against Benfica in Turin. It was amazing," he said.
"As a player it was very difficult to achieve some trophies, when I was starting as a coach I was thinking, 'I want to progress, I want to improve, I want to move ahead' and when the first title arrived it was [breathes sigh of relief].
"And really after continuing winning some more and really I am here and my objective is to achieve some important things in the football first, and after is to achieve titles."
