The Villarreal striker back after five months out: “I felt really good”
Adrián López returns. The Villarreal CF Asturian striker returned to the pitch after a dry patch of nearly 5 months due to injury and made his reappearance in the Vicente Calderón stadium in a match that saw the Submarine draw with Atlético. “I’m very happy. I couldn’t wait to finally be on the pitch with my teammates again. It was very special for me returning to the Calderón. The team performed really well and it was not an easy job against a very strong team. We got a well-deserved and very important point. We keep maintaining the point gap from the other teams as the fixtures go by. We have to keep going like this, but now the most important thing is the Europa League,” he assured.
The Yellow number 20, who had not played since 23rd September 2015 against Málaga, said he had very good feelings: “I felt really good. After so long it felt really good to play again and for me that is the most important thing. A lot of my teammates who also hadn’t been playing got the nod and responded perfectly. Right now the only thing I want to do is help the team. I am focused on playing for Villarreal and I hope I can help for the rest of the season. I really want to repay them for the confidence they’ve had in me. I feel very loved by everyone and I want to give back this faith on the pitch”.
Villarreal CF is fourth in LaLiga, a privileged place which will be hard to keep according to Adrián: “I can’t wait to be able to help. Now, the most important part of the season awaits us as we approach the final stretch. On Thursday, we have a great opportunity and then all the league matches will be very important too. To finish fourth will be very difficult, but the team is deserving of it”.
The next challenge for the Yellows will be to get through their Round of 32 UEFA Europa League second leg against Napoli, after a 1-0 win at El Madrigal. “It’s a good result. Scoring and getting a clean sheet at home gives us a small advantage, but Napoli are a very good team. They have players of the highest level and at their ground they will make it tough for us. If we are able to score at San Paolo it would be a very important step in this knockout phase. The atmosphere will be intense. But these are beautiful matches for the team to demonstrate that we can move forward,” Adrián affirmed.
According to the Yellows striker, the work of the less regular players will be key in the final stretch of the season: “We are ready to deal with the upcoming matches. If we have all players available this will be very important point for us, especially because we are in various competitions. The team has confidence because everything is going well. We are enjoying it and let’s hope we can keep going like this for many weeks to come. There is a great sense of commitment and very good vibes among us all. We train at 100% and this is very important for a team to perform well on the pitch”.
