The Villarreal manager underlines that ‘you have to give a lot of importance’ to the win against Rayo
Villarreal manager Javi Calleja underlined the pride he has for his players after the exciting match against Rayo Vallecano at the Estadio de la Cerámica (3-1). A crucial victory for the Yellows’ survival hopes. “You have to give a lot of importance to everything we’re doing. We’re tired both physically and psychologically. When things have got worse, we showed that we wanted to get away from the bottom. They took the lead, and you really have to value how we turned it around,” he commented.
For the Yellows head coach, the team grew into the game: “We finished the first half well. We needed to get into the game with more pace and us starting slower meant our opponents got in front. From there, we took a step forward. In the second half, we knew that we had to go for it completely from the start. The mentality and the commitment we have can be seen in every match. I’m tremendously proud.”
According to Calleja, putting wins together has changed the team’s mentality: “We’re all convinced about what we’re doing. We can only get to do what we want with unity and hard work. We have to continue like that. We’re a family and it fills me with joy. When you win, your mentality changes. The Europa League has helped us to believe and grow in confidence. We have a talented squad and every player feels important.”
To conclude, Calleja refered to the team not playing next week: “This break would help us disconnect on a mental level. We’ve been playing a lot of games in a row and it’ll be good for us to rest a bit. This little break will help us work harder and better. It’s not time to relax, in fact, it’s the opposite.”
