<
>

PSG chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi backs Unai Emery after Barcelona shock

Paris Saint-Germain chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi has backed coach Unai Emery following Wednesday's humiliating 6-1 defeat away at Barcelona.

PSG crashed out of the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage after Luis Enrique's men completed an improbable 6-5 aggregate comeback, and former Sevilla boss Emery has been under fire since.

However, Al-Khelaifi told Le Parisien: "Following such a failure, everyone has a share of the responsibility.

"I have mine as chairman and CEO, the leaders of the sporting sector have theirs, the coach and the players have theirs too.

"I have already had lengthy conversations with [Emery]. He has qualities that we believe in. He has my full support. We are going to speak with him about the changes that will be needed during the offseason.

"Everyone was saying he is the best coach in the world after the first leg. He has not become the worst after the second."

Al-Khelaifi dismissed the idea that such a humiliating defeat at the hands of another European giant could mean that Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) abandons its lavish project at Parc des Princes.

"Absolutely not!" he said. "Since the start, we have been here out of our passion for football and our love of Paris.

"We are determined to push forward. As I have always said, our project is a long-term one. We know the path to the Champions League is long for those clubs trying to challenge the established hierarchy.

"Nobody can erase what we have done over the past six years. This Barcelona experience will make us stronger."

Al-Khelaifi also does not feel that the Barcelona farce will make PSG less attractive to potential new signings in the future.

"I insist that great players do not judge a club on a single match," he said. "They look at the entire project.

"We have more than 20 international players at PSG. We have a coach who won three European trophies consecutively [with Sevilla]. All of the work done this season will eventually bear fruit -- I am convinced of it."

Al-Khelaifi also refused to criticise captain Thiago Silva's leadership after such a collapse, calling the result "a collective failure" and adding: "We are suffering after this elimination like all the supporters."

The PSG leader also criticised referee Deniz Aytekin's performance at Camp Nou but stressed that the French champions will not hide behind it after their defeat.

"We will absolutely not hide behind this today," Al-Khelaifi said. "We handled the match poorly and we handled the final eight minutes even more poorly.

"As a general rule, I do not comment on refereeing decisions. However, we cannot help but feel that the outcome might have been different with more perceptive refereeing.

"Everyone could see it was a penalty on Angel [Di Maria] and that would have taken us back to 3-2 and killed the suspense. Do not forget it was not a penalty on [Luis] Suarez at the end of the game either."