The head coach pointed out that his team must be humble and respectful in order to overcome an opponent who are at their best at the moment
Villarreal head coach, Marcelino García Toral, spoke to the media on Friday to analyse the derby on Matchday 24 of the 2024/25 LALIGA EA Sports against Valencia CF, which will take place this Saturday at the Estadio de la Cerámica, starting at 9pm CET.
He warned about Valencia CF’s improvement in recent games: “Valencia’s numbers in the last five games are far from those of a team in the relegation zone. They are a team with a good dynamic, who have won two games in a row. I expect a difficult and evenly matched derby. Although I hope that we can make our home advantage count and take the win.”
Similarly, Marcelino analysed the virtues of an opponent that he considers very dangerous and who are at their best moment of the season: “They are a team that press very intensely, looking for direct attacks and a lot of counterattacks. They press very hard and are a very complicated team. They’re going to try to find the back of us and make sure we’re not comfortable. We know that and from there we have to attack well and defend well to concede fewer goals.”
As for the derbies, he acknowledged that they are always special: “They are emotional in themselves. I’ve experienced very special moments in both teams, but now I’m here and I want Villarreal to win. This is one of the best games you can see in LALIGA and it’s a shame that it’s not being played this year for a high place in the table.”
On the other hand, Marcelino has been very insistent on the need to be humble and respectful in order to overcome Valencia: “We all want to win, but the first step is respect and humility. Winning in the top flight is very complicated and even more so in a derby against a team that is on its best run of the season. We want the fans to enjoy and be satisfied with the result, but we know that there will be moments of difficulty and suffering.”
Finally, the Villarreal head coach has advocated maintaining the home dynamic of recent games: “We are in the process of becoming a very solvent team at home, which we would ratify with a third consecutive home win, we come from two very good results at home, but tomorrow’s game will certainly be very different. It’s not going to be easy, because Valencia are playing with a lot at stake and because they are in a completely different situation than a few weeks ago. Respect and maximum humility.”
