Emery stressed the need to be competitive against a demanding and dangerous FC Barcelona (Thursday, 9pm CET)
Villarreal head coach Unai Emery has appeared before the media to analyse the match against FC Barcelona, which will be played this Thursday at 9pm CEST at the Camp Nou.
Here are his standout quotes.
Absences and conditioning factors
“We have players who were absent against Osasuna and they are not ready for the game. We’ll see if we can count on Capoue, Lo Celso and Mojica. Foyth and Gerard are closer to recovery, but they won’t be available for the game. Coquelin is out with a muscle injury. It is possible that Kiko Femenía could be back.”
A win on the last visit
“We got a win there last season, in a totally different context. It was the last matchday of LaLiga, we were playing to be in Europe and we put in a good performance. Now, they are coming off the back of losing the clásico. They’re wounded and will be even more dangerous.”
Personality and optimism
“The match can be seen in two ways. The pessimistic one, in which FC Barcelona’s ability is evident and even if you play a good game it’s difficult to achieve anything. Or we can focus on the great challenge of playing against FC Barcelona, bring out all your personality and be above the qualities that they can show and face it with the optimism to enjoy the game and go for the result.”
Being at our best
“We have to find our best version, learn what we don’t do well and apply it from now on. In our last away game in San Sebastian we didn’t play a good game. It was a disappointment, but we had a good reaction against Osasuna both on a competitive level and on a personality level.”
Competitive, character and possession
“We have to compete well, have character and personality and the ball. We have to win duels to go for their goal. They are going to look for us in one-on-ones down the flanks, they have Lewandowski who is a natural goalscorer. We have good experience from last season, but tomorrow will be a huge challenge.”
Tough challenges to continue growing
“I’m motivated to play a big game against FC Barcelona to see how it could put us in the table. We have the chance to get a win that can give us great motivation and that’s very positive. We want nice, difficult challenges in front of us, because that will take us further.”
