Unai Emery and Juan Foyth are expecting a tough game against the Israeli side, who are in good form (Thursday, 6:55pm CET)
Villarreal head coach Unai Emery and Argentine defender Juan Foyth appeared in a remote press conference to analyse the build-up to the tie with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the UEFA Europa League (Thursday, 6:55pm CET). The Basque head coach underlined that Villarreal are travelling to Israel with the aim of getting a win that would seal qualification and first spot in Group I: “With the utmost respect to our opponents, tomorrow, we want to win. That’s our first objective. The second is to continue being competitive in this competition, which will help us to grow, share out minutes and get information on how we can be better.”
Despite being ambitious, Emery underlined that the tie against Maccabi will be more demanding than the game between the two sides at the Estadio de la Cerámica. “It will be very different. In the last game, they had a few doubts. Now they’ve found a defined starting XI, they’re full of confidence after having won a number of league games. I’m expecting to face a different opponent, one that are a lot tougher to face, and they’ll demand a lot from us. The three points are very important for them. I think they’ll offer their best version against us.”
Foyth: “Maccabi go into the game full of confidence”
Argentine centre-back Foyth underlined that the team will need to be focused and give their all to defeat Maccabi Tel Aviv and secure qualification for the knockout stages: “We’ve prepared the game well, which is very important for us. We want to give 100% and look for the three points to qualify.”
The defender warned that the Israeli outfit will be a much stronger team than the side the Yellows faced a few weeks ago: “They’re a team that have good players and go into the game full of confidence, as they’re getting good results. They will try and win, to get revenge. We need to be focused and play the same way we’ve been playing to get a good result in a tough match.”
