The Asturian coach highlighted that the team will need to improve their away performances to win at San Mamés (Sunday, 9pm CEST)
Villarreal CF head coach Marcelino García Toral spoke to the media to preview the Yellow Submarine’s upcoming match against Athletic Club, corresponding to Matchday 31 of LALIGA EA Sports, which will be played this Sunday at 9pm CEST at the Nuevo San Mamés.
The clash against the Bilbao-based side takes place during the iconic retro matchday of LALIGA EA Sports, which pays tribute to the history and tradition of our domestic competition. “Football has changed a lot. Everything is quite different: the state of the pitch, the way of playing, training methods, the pace of the game, the stadiums… Both eras have their appeal, but without a doubt everything is different,” explains the Asturian coach.
It is a very special occasion, even more so as it is being played at one of the great temples of Spanish football. “Matches at San Mamés are always special. Very exciting because of the atmosphere you experience there. If, on top of that, it’s a retro matchday, it will be even more so. It’s true that it’s the new San Mamés and not the old one, but even so, it’s an added bonus,” reasons Marcelino.
Regarding the match itself, the Villarreal boss has predicted a game of maximum difficulty and highlighted the keys to getting closer to victory: “I expect a very tough match, as Athletic are a very powerful team at home. In addition, they recover their entire squad, something they haven’t been able to enjoy until now. To win, we must work very hard, match their intensity, which is not easy at all, and be effective with the ball in the final third, something we didn’t achieve in Girona. Finally, we need to be more clinical, which is difficult, but it would bring us closer to victory.”
Furthermore, Marcelino acknowledged that the team must improve their away performances in the final stretch of the season: “We are aware that at Montilivi we didn’t do enough to win and we want to change that. Overall, we have good numbers away from home, but recently we’ve lost that solidity as visitors and we need to recover it. Now we have four home matches and four away matches remaining. We want to compete at a higher level than we did in Girona.”
