Unai Emery: 'Losing to Madrid is not a disappointment'

Unai Emery believes there is no shame in being eliminated from the Champions League by title holder Real Madrid, and is confident Paris Saint-Germain can capture the trophy in the future.

Whether the Spaniard is given another chance to win the tournament with PSG remains to be seen. Les Parisiens limped out of the round-of-16 stage in a flimsy showing which contrasted with the Parc des Princes’ explosive home support.

“We all want to win this competition quickly. We’ll continue with patience, and build a team that can win,” Emery told ESPN.

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“I’m sure this team can win the Champions League. The supporters will see that Paris will win this competition one day.

“Losing to Madrid is not a disappointment, but going out in the last 16 is.”

Paris Saint-Germain is still in with a good chance of capturing a domestic treble, but the lavish spending overseen by the club’s Qatari owners is intended to establish Emery’s side as a world force. In a two-legged bout which largely fell below expectations in terms of quality, PSG was eventually overshadowed by Real despite a promising start.

“The first leg was the key because we were better over the first 80 minutes than them,” Emery claimed.

“They controlled 60 percent of this match and we couldn’t do enough in the 40 percent we controlled.”

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The last-16 exit means PSG hasn’t ventured further than the quarter-finals since the 1994-95 edition of the Champions League. That tournament had half the number of teams seen in today’s version, enabling PSG to just beat Barcelona before it was booted out the semi-final stage by AC Milan.