Emery hails PSG personality after tricky Nantes test

Unai Emery hailed the personality of his Paris Saint-Germain side after they safely negotiated their way past an in-form Nantes on Saturday.

Edinson Cavani took his Ligue 1 tally to 20 for the season – the first time he has achieved that feat in a single campaign for the club – by scoring a goal in each half to seal a 2-0 win for the champions at the Stade de la Beaujoire and leave PSG within one point of league leaders Nice.

Nantes had won their past four league matches without conceding a goal and made life difficult at times for PSG on home turf.

And head coach Emery was delighted with the way PSG handled the threat.

“We are third [in the league], we won here and it’s good for confidence,” he told Canal +.

“The team played a good game, with a lot of seriousness. The players are well together, individually and collectively, on a mental level.

“The players have the capacity to do it, it is then a matter of concentration and it was necessary to work well to overcome the pressure of Nantes.

“They are a team that is in a very good moment, but we played with personality. The team has been calm at times, to control possession and have a good positioning.”

Emery was also happy with the impact substitutes Angel Di Maria, Hatem Ben Arfa and Adrien Rabiot had on the game, with the latter twice going close towards the end including smashing an effort against the crossbar.

“Those who entered the game to help the team got two or three opportunities to score other goals,” Emery added.

“Adrien came in very well, Hatem and Di Maria too. This path is the right one. It is important that substitutes be mentally in the game.”

The win over Nantes comes before a busy domestic week starting with a Coupe de la Ligue semi-final against Bordeaux on Tuesday, before next weekend’s crunch Ligue 1 encounter with Monaco – who will go top if they avoid defeat at home to Lorient on Sunday.

But Emery is keen to take it one game at a time.

“For me, it’s all about Tuesday,” he added. “The players must recover well and we will prepare for Tuesday.

“There is a semi-final, it is very important, it is the first door to a final and we must think about Tuesday.”