Emery aims to bounce back after European disappointment

After narrowly avoiding embarrassment against Ludogorets in the Champions League, Unai Emery called for his Paris Saint-Germain players to quickly focus on Sunday’s Ligue 1 showdown with Nice.

Goals from Virgil Misidjan and Wanderson threatened to give the Bulgarian visitors a famous victory in the French capital, only for Angel Di Maria’s injury-time equaliser to clinch a 2-2 draw.

The result, following on from a 3-0 loss away to Montpellier in the league on Saturday, led to a chorus of boos from the PSG fans at the final whistle at Parc des Princes.

But rather than dwell on gifting top spot to Arsenal in Group A, Emery called for his players to pick themselves up ahead of a crucial game against the league leaders in France.

“It is a disappointment. We had a good game at Arsenal and had returned from London with first place,” he told beIN Sport.

“We had a lot of opportunities, corners, centres. We deserved to win.

“This is a bad result. I’m worried because we do not score as many goals as we normally would do.

“We can revive ourselves on Sunday against Nice. The most important thing is to still to be in the next round.”

Ludogorets captain Svetoslav Dyakov admitted the visitors were “a little bit disappointed” at conceding such a late equaliser, even if the result still secured them a place in the knockout stages of the Europa League.

“We are a little bit disappointed as we were so close to a great win. Yes, Paris had their chances but as the game unfolded we could have won,” he told UEFA.com. 

“We are so happy to be the first Bulgarian side to get out of the group stages of the Champions League. It was our target before the start of the group stage.

“We now have confidence and nobody should underestimate us in the Europa League.”