MADRID, May 2. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Villarreal’s coach, Unai Emery, has assured that they must recover their “game” to face the second leg of the Champions League semifinals against Liverpool on Tuesday, something that they “did not” manage to “find” at Anfield, and He has recognized that achieving the pass to the final in Paris would mean finding “excellence”.
“We’re here and we want to play the final. We played a game in which they were better, they have a considerable income, but tomorrow we don’t come just to play, we come to work on the game to try to win it and for the fans to enjoy it,” he declared in Press conference.
To do this, they must come back from 2-0 against a ‘red’ team that has not lost by more than two goals difference this season. “We will have to make a perfect match, give our excellence or be close to it and provoke something that nobody has provoked them. We must find more weaknesses,” he said.
In addition, the Basque coach explained that they are “very excited” about the appointment. “We played 90 minutes on their field, where they feel very strong in front of their fans, and they were better, but we managed to defend well. They come to our house as favourites, but we are very excited”, he underlined.
“The team is focused on looking for our options, facing them in duels and being able to win those duels to find positive answers against the best team in the world, which has tremendous confidence. They play with a sense of security and confidence, but from the illusion we live this moment with all our people. The team has made a great effort to be in the semifinals, but to pass this would be excellence, “he continued.
In this sense, he stressed that they are having “good games at home”, finding “good arbitrations and good harmony” with the fans. “Raising a 2-0 is very difficult. In this case, it benefits us that the goal away from home is not worth double. We are not looking for any external reference, we are looking for things of our own. The field factor there was very important, and here we would like it to be as well had a small difference in our favor,” he said.
“First, we play at La Cerámica, with our fans. Second, tomorrow we have to win. Third, we have to defend, although there are many ways to defend; we will have to play a tremendous defensive game, different from Liverpool. We must be able to find something that we didn’t find there, which was our game,” he said.
In another order of things, Emery reported that Gerard Moreno has trained with the group and will wait until Tuesday to find out if he has “good feelings” and does not take “any risk” with him. “Danjuma has had some discomfort and hasn’t trained with the group, we’ll see tomorrow if he’s in a position to play. Yeremy is going to be out,” he said.
On the other hand, he recognized that the Spaniard Thiago Alcántara and the Brazilian Fabinho played “a tremendous game” in the first leg. “Thiago Alcántara was the best player in the game, Fabinho has had an extraordinary run. They are two players who have a lot of play and who later add to the team’s needs. They were at a very high level”, he affirmed.
“We played a very recognizable game at a defensive level, and that’s what we have to do in this one. If tomorrow the man of the match is from Liverpool, we will surely be out. If he is one of ours, we will have options,” he added.
Finally, he was convinced that the fans of the ‘Yellow Submarine’ will come to support the team this Tuesday. “We are experiencing a historic moment: last year we won the Europa League, this year we reached the semifinals of the ‘Champions’… Villarreal is very proud of the Roig family’s project,” he said.
“Not everyone likes football, but everyone identifies with this Villarreal because they feel that they belong. That’s the most important thing, the feeling of belonging and of defending something of yours, like Pau -Torres-. It’s what the most beautiful there is. Tomorrow yellow and the feeling of pride will predominate,” he concluded.
