The Italian centre back returned to the team against Espanyol after overcoming a muscle injury
Daniele Bonera put the Villarreal shirt back on for the side’s league match against Espanyol after overcoming a muscle injury in his left calf. The experienced Submarine defender hasn’t played a match since the 22nd November 2015, when was injured against Eibar in El Madrigal. The Yellows’ number 23 made a reappearance last Saturday in the RCDE Stadium putting in an excellent performance, coming on just after the break replacing his teammate Eric Bailly.
“I already couldn’t wait to get back to playing. When I came to the team I wasn’t fit to compete. I worked hard and the injury put a halt to the progress I was making. When you can’t do what you love, which for me is playing football, it’s really hard. I’m ok now and I hope my experience can help the team”, Bonera commented.
The Italian defender felt good against Espanyol: “To play in a situation like that was not easy because the opposition had a lot of space on the counter attack. I felt really good. I’m happy with my performance. I did a specific job to match that of the team”.
The Submarine is fourth in the league table, but Bonera said that they can’t take their foot off the pedal. “If we look at the table we’re in a great position. Despite that, we have to continue to train and compete seriously because football doesn’t favour you when you think you are better than the other team”.
According to the defender, his transition to Spanish football is going well: “I really like Spanish football. It’s very different. It’s a lot faster and less tactical than in Italy. There, games are very even and many games are won from a dead ball situation”.
Lastly, the Italian footballer analyzed Napoli, Villarreal’s opponent in the UEFA Europa League – Round of 32: “Napoli are a very strong team. They are the current leaders in Italy and this is not an easy thing to accomplish. We have to face this fixture with high hopes because there are two matches and even though Napoli are a strong team so are we”.
