The Villarreal head coach was frustrated at one-off errors which led to elimination in the cup
Villarreal CF head coach Luis García was frustrated at the errors made by his team in the second leg of the round-of-16 Copa del Rey tie against Espanyol, underlining that his side generally played well: “I can’t believe it. We gave gifts to Espanyol, and they made the most of our mistakes. The result is an exaggeration, because I think the tie was more even than the result makes out. The errors we made are errors you can’t prepare for in training. We were competitive in the knockout tie and we’re disappointed to not get through. After half-time, the team had chances to draw level. At the end of the day, it was a moment of a lack of concentration from a corner that killed the tie.”
García congratulated Espanyol for getting through: “The team that deserves to go through is the side that scores more goals, but Villarreal were competitive. In terms of the play, we were better than Espanyol, but in the boxes, it wasn’t the same situation.”
The head coach underlined the path to follow: “Now it’s time to focus on LaLiga. We have to lift ourselves up. We’ve played a lot in recent weeks. The day when we get a win we are going to take off. We aren’t doing things badly.”
Next up for Villarreal is a match against Athletic Club at the Estadio de la Cerámica (Sunday, 4:15pm CET). “Sunday’s match is like a final. We need a win against Athletic and if we get it, we’re going to take off. We are going to be really united to play against a team that’s coming into the match on a great run. The team is alive and desperate to win. We have the second round of matches to play and it will be a titanic fight. There isn’t much between any sides. On Sunday, we have to take a step forward. The fans will definitely be on our side,” he concluded.
