Unai Emery has emphasised the difficulty of facing RCD Espanyol away from home and the different factors that will affect the team this season
Villarreal CF head coach, Unai Emery, appeared before the press today in a virtual press conference ahead of this weekend’s game against RCD Espanyol (Saturday, 7:30pm CEST). The manager spoke from the Villarreal CF Training Ground before the team leaves for Barcelona later today.
The opponent
“Espanyol are a first division team who, historically, usually play in Europe. When they were relegated, they invested in the squad, and they bounced back to the first division very quickly. They also have a great coach in Vicente Moreno. When you look at his career, you realise why things are looking so good there. Lots of hard work has been done at the club, and now, a historic team has a coach with an impressive past.”
Absentees
We’re travelling without three key players (Dani Parejo, Samu Chukwueze and Pau Torres) which is going to give opportunities to other players. We need to work well, have a positive mentality and ensure that the players are prepared.”
Iborra and Alcácer
“They are training normally. With Paco, we’ve made a plan that prioritises physical preparation for when we need him to come on during tough games. This week, we have a player more in Iborra, who has had an unfortunate preseason. We would have liked to have given him a few minutes of game time so that he feels comfortable after such a serious injury, but he is training well and is an important player both on the pitch and in the dressing room. He is in good physical condition to return to the pitch and regain confidence.”
Danjuma
“The structure of the team that we’re building has different characteristics, with individuals bringing qualities that allow us to keep the ball, to run into space and to create one-on-one situations in important phases of the game. Danjuma needs time to adapt, but he will travel tomorrow and has been part of our pre-match discussions.”
The squad
“Fernando Roig Negueroles understands the sporting ambitions of the club very clearly. This year, we want to take things a step further. In LaLiga, we want to improve on last year’s position, in Europe we’re already doing so by playing in the Champions League, and we want to go further in the cup than we did last year. Lots of players have gone out on loan because we think that in their situations, they need game-time elsewhere. In this way, the arrival of Danjuma is a great effort from the club that gives us an offensive alternative that brings different attacking qualities to the side in this position. We also want to keep on utilising our young players, like Cuenca, who’s returned from his loan, or Yeremy, who is still with us.”
Champions League
The difference between playing in the Champions League and playing in the Conference League is huge, but there is no pressure, only extra demands on our team. It makes us wonder where, as a club, we want to be, and the club has taken a big leap forward. Villarreal, in its history, has had some fantastic players, and returning to the Champions League brings such a positive challenge for us. We have so much competition in the squad, and that should make everybody raise their game.”
