Jose Enrique has warned Liverpool not to underestimate Villarreal manager Unai Emery as they prepare to battle for a place in the Champions League final.
The Reds host the Spanish overachievers in the first semi-final leg on Wednesday night after victories over Inter Milan and Benfica in the previous two rounds. Remarkably, Villarreal overcame Juventus in the last 16 and Bayern Munich in the quarters having qualified for the competition by beating Manchester United in last season's Europa League final.
Emery has proved himself to be a specialist in two-legged continental ties since his eye-catching spell with Sevilla, where he won three consecutive Europa League titles between 2014 and 2016. His fellow Spaniard, Enrique, excepts this will make for two "very, very tough" legs for the Reds.
"They have very good, strong players and their manager is key for their success," the former defender - who played for Villarreal and Liverpool - told Metro. "I believe Emery knows what he's doing. He's always on it but these kinds of competitions, he knows how to play two-legged games, so it’s going to be very, very tough [for Liverpool]."
Emery was appointed Villarreal manager nearly two years ago following a challenging 18-month stint at Arsenal. Enrique expects the Basque Country native was not helped by the language barrier on his arrival in the Premier League but insists he could have performed better if he had been given more time.
The former left-back pointed to Arsenal's patience with Mikel Arteta - Emery's replacement at the Emirates - to illustrate his point. Enrique added: "With Emery, he didn't speak the language 100 per cent but if he had more than a year or two [with the Gunners], he would have spoken English a lot better.
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"But he's been PSG manager, he's been Sevilla manager. He won three straight Europa Leagues with Sevilla. Look now at what he's doing at Villarreal, so sometimes it's patience. And they're [Arsenal are] doing it now with Arteta.
"This year he started the season really badly and everyone was critical of him but Arsenal stood by him. They didn't listen to the fans who said, 'sack him'. They signed the players that he wanted and got rid of the players he didn't want.
"They trusted him and they've improved little by little and now look, with a lot of young players they will hopefully finish in the top four. You need to realise as well that sustaining success is very difficult, near impossible"
