Unai Emery underlines the importance of Sunday’s match at the Estadio de la Cerámica (4:15pm CEST)
Focused on the next game. Villarreal CF head coach Unai Emery recognised that the team are excited about the UEFA Europa League semi-final with Arsenal, but he also underlined that before the second leg, they need to play an important game against Getafe (Sunday, 4:15pm CEST, Estadio de la Cerámica): “My slogan with the team is think about the league, that’s the day-to-day competition, the competition that opens your doors. The league is most important. It’s true we’re in the Europa League semi-finals, and this is an important moment for everyone, the club and players can take a step forward, and we need to focus on that, but we cannot forget the league. We’ve put a lot in the competition and we’re playing well, it’s logical that we need to step up there, we can’t deny it.”
For Emery, the fight for entering into Europe will be tight: “In the league, we’re close to our aims, but we could miss out. They are teams that are fighting to be there and take that spot away from us. They’re coming from behind, and while we’ve made it harder for them, we’ve not left them completely behind. Thursday’s match conditions us, but we need to think about LaLiga too. We need to test the players well, see what their physical and muscular levels are, but on Sunday, we need to give everything to beat Getafe.”
Regarding the opponent, Emery underlined what they do well: “Getafe are a Bordalás team, they’re an intense team that demand a lot from you. In recent games they have returned to the level you expect from them, with Ünal who will be motivated to return here, and with ver good players. Bordalás is a successful coach, who’s doing a great job, but this year they’re fighting to avoid relegation. That’s what they’re looking for and I see them coming here in good form.”
Emery could make various changes to the starting XI to refresh the team: “In previous matches, we couldn’t win with the presence of some players who deserved that prize, as they worked well and they weren’t coming having those playing options. Now we’re thinking about winning, we’re going to use players to get those options, but we are going to analyse everything to put out a team that gives you guarantees. It is a very difficult game ahead of us, they’ll be fresh and they need the points, so we need to perform at our best,” he concluded.
See Emery’s press conference (in Spanish) by clicking play.
