The winger has underlined he wants to be important for the Submarine and has evaluated the positive start to the season
Ilias Akhomach appeared before the media on Wednesday to analyse the current goings-on with Villarreal CF, who face FC Barcelona this Sunday at 6:30pm CEST at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
The Spanish-Moroccan attacker underlined the team’s improvement with the arrival of the league competition: “I wasn’t there in pre-season, but I followed the team closely from Paris and I think we have improved in many aspects at the start of the season. The games have also been going in our favour lately.”
As for the Yellows’ next opponents, Ilias warned of the difficulty of facing FC Barcelona: “It’s always difficult to face Barça. They are the LALIGA leaders. But we have clear ideas and we’re working on them so that they come out of the game. We’re going to do everything we can to try and win it.”
He also acknowledged that, for him, it is always a special match: “It is. I spent all my childhood there and I have great memories. Everything I took away from the club is positive.”
The Yellows No.11 predicts a competitive match with plenty of alternatives: “It will be a very nice game to watch. We simply tell the fans to come and enjoy the game.”
Despite his Culé past, Ilias has affirmed that his objective is to succeed with Villarreal and to do so in European football: “I have clear ideas. I left Barcelona to come here and succeed at Villarreal. I have had offers that I had to listen to because they are surprising, but as I say I have very clear ideas and they are to stay here and succeed in Vila-real.”
When asked about the competition in attack, Akhomach was calm and assured that it is positive for the team: “It makes us better. It makes the players and the team better. Having players like Baena, Yeremy or Pepe is very positive. It makes it difficult for the head coach to make a decision, but it’s good for the team because it forces us to give everything in every training session.”
Ilias also spoke about the good start to the competition: “We’ve had a very good start to the season, but we know that this is a long way off. We’ve started this season at the top, although we can’t forget that two or three bad games can put you at the bottom, so we have to give our best in every game”. And on the objectives of the current campaign, he added: “Villarreal have a team capable of being at the top. We’ve only just started and we’ve only had a few games under our belts. But being in Europe is a goal we have in mind.”
