The Champions League knockout phase may only be beginning but it has thrown up a tie which could send shockwaves across Europe.
Holders Real Madrid face one of the favourites in Paris Saint-Germain, and a duel which would have been huge last season has become seismic with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe added to the equation.
And as is so often the case, the men pacing the technical areas will be the ones who pay the price for defeat.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane and Paris Saint-Germain’s Unai Emery are under pressure at their respective sides and whichever team is eliminated will throw their coach into the firing line.
Despite Zidane being a club legend and adding two Champions League trophies to the club’s haul as a coach, despite Emery’s side flying in Ligue 1 and aiming for a domestic treble, their livelihoods are on the line as two of Europe’s giants do battle.
Here’s how the battle on the touchline shapes up…
Zinedine Zidane (left) and Unai Emery know they must deliver if they wish to keep their jobs
HISTORY
ZIDANE: Short, but bright. Zidane has had no managerial experience outside of Real Madrid. While his playing career glistened, Madrid president Florentino Perez took a risk when appointing Zidane as Rafa Benitez’s replacement in January 2016.
Zidane’s only time at the helm of a team was the season and a half he spent with Real Madrid Castilla, who weren’t even excelling under his leadership. However, since taking over at the Santiago Bernabeu, Zidane has led Madrid to two Champions Leagues and last season’s La Liga title. That was the first time Madrid had been crowned Spanish champions since 2012.
Zidane has guided Real to two successive Champions League titles during his brief time there
EMERY: In contrast to Zidane, Emery has scraped and scrapped his way to the top of the game. His first managerial appointment was at Lorca Deportivo in 2005, before heading to Almeria, where his career took off. He got them promoted to the top flight for the first time and then inspired them to an eight place finish.
Along the way he helped America to a 2-0 win over Madrid, described as ‘the greatest night in Almeria’s history’, and it was a fairly important one for Emery too, the youngest coach in La Liga. His success with the Andalusian side soon earned him a move to Valencia, whom he took to the Champions League.
It was at Sevilla he earned his first silverware, scoring a Europa League hat-trick in 2014, 2015 and 2016. That was enough for PSG to give him the call in 2016, although Monaco beat him to the French title last season.
Emery won three straight Europa League titles while at Sevilla – earning him his move to PSG
MANAGERIAL STYLE
ZIDANE: The Frenchman was an immediate success at Real Madrid because his style was so different to his predecessor’s Rafa Benitez. Benitez wore down the energy levels of his squad, both mentally and physically, with key players fed up of the Spaniard after just a few weeks at the helm. By contrast Zidane was a superb man manager, keeping his players happy and shuffling his squad resources well to ensure big names and personalities were content.
In press conferences Zidane displays an ice cool persona, rarely raising his voice or losing control, and he insists he feels no pressure, despite the club’s situation. His superb playing career earned him respect in the dressing room that some experienced coaches never manage to garner during their careers, although as results have faded this season, that is waning slightly.
In press conferences Zidane displays an ice cool persona – much unlike his counterpart Emery
EMERY: The Spaniard is the other side of the coin to Zidane. He is cut in Benitez’s mould, someone who pushes and pushes his players, driving them mad with tactical and video analysis. He keeps his players learning for a long time, even past their breaking points, until he is completely sure the team knows what he wants and demands from them.
At least, that’s how he coached in Spain. In France, finally ‘blessed’ with a squad of world class talents, Emery has proven a bit unsure over how to handle them. He knows star names like Neymar will not put up with relentless tactical briefings. In the French capital he has lost his footing. The combined power of the players means Emery is viewed as having increasingly little control. Some have compared the situation to Avram Grant at Chelsea. His handling of the Neymar-Cavani penalty situation is an example of this, with Emery unwilling to wade in and resolve the matter. This would never have happened during his time at Sevilla.
In Emery’s press conference ahead of this clash the coach was tense, appearing cowed by the occasion, by the threat of a repeat of what happened at the Nou Camp, a year ago, when Barcelona overturned his team’s 4-0 first leg win with a 6-1 triumph.
By contrast, Emery’s pre-game presser was tense as he appeared cowed by the occasion
TACTICS
ZIDANE: Madrid line up in a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2, the latter a formation Zidane discovered after Gareth Bale’s injury last season. With the Welshman out, he employed Isco at the tip of a midfield diamond in the 4-4-2 and it helped them retain the Champions League as part of an impressive double. However with Bale back, the ‘BBC’ trident up front is all fit and available, meaning Zidane has switched back to a 4-3-3.
The truth is Zidane is limited when it comes to tactics. At first it seemed like he was coasting by with the same set-up as Carlo Ancelotti used, until he had time to configure his own team, but that never happened. His personality and presence is his strong point, his man-management, but if his galacticos don’t deliver, Zidane has rarely shown the nous to change things from the bench.
With Gareth Bale (left) back fit, Real are expected to line up in a 4-3-3 formation
EMERY: Again, the opposite to Zidane, Emery has been very careful with his tactical system and it’s the mental side of his coaching which has been the problem for him in Paris. When it comes to the chalkboard, the coach is clear about what he wants. This season it’s mostly been a 4-3-3, in part dictated by the signings of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, who must play, while Cavani, the club record scorer, is undroppable.
‘Emery showed us so many videos I ran out of popcorn,’ joked Joaquin Sanchez about his former Valencia coach. ‘He’s one of the best managers I’ve had. I worked with him for three years, I could not handle a fourth.’
Neymar (left) and Edinson Cavani will start in attack for PSG in a 4-3-3 setup on Wednesday
POPULARITY LEVELS
ZIDANE: Real Madrid fans adore Zidane for his exploits both as a manager and as a coach, and unless PSG embarrass Los Blancos on Wednesday night, they will not be calling for his head.
However president Florentino Perez feels differently. Zidane was appointed to be Madrid’s answer to Pep Guardiola and this season’s disappointment means few think this will happen now. Unlike Manchester City’s master tactician, Zidane has tended to roll with the punches, and it looks like his luck is coming to an end. Should PSG deal Madrid a brutal defeat, it would not be a surprise if Zidane is not in charge for the second leg.
But the winds blow fickle in the Spanish capital and if Madrid steam past PSG then all will be smiling widely again.
Zidane could be given the boot if Real exit at the last-16 stage, such is their poor domestic form
EMERY: Incredibly Emery was linked with a potential PSG exit back when the team lost 3-1 to Bayern Munich in the group stage, despite already romping to last-16 qualification thanks to five victories. That’s how much nerves are jangling in Paris, because Emery’s fate comes down to how well his team do in this competition.
PSG fans are not convinced about Emery and neither are the board. He could go on to lift Ligue 1 and even complete a domestic treble, but he will be gone at the end of the season if his side are eliminated by Real Madrid.
And yet, just like at Madrid, if he can steer PSG through to the quarter-finals, past the team which has lifted the trophy more times than any other, it would be a huge step forward for the club, putting the ghosts of last year’s shocking defeat by Barcelona to bed.
Emery could be out in the cold as well, if PSG are knocked out by Real Madrid over the two legs