The Asturian head coach highlighted that the Yellows go into the clash with the ambition of securing a Champions League win at La Cerámica (Tuesday, 9pm)

Villarreal CF head coach Marcelino García Toral, accompanied by Yellow defender Rafa Marín, spoke to the media on Monday to analyse the build‑up to the UEFA Champions League match against AFC Ajax, which will take place this Tuesday at 9pm at the Estadio de la Cerámica.

In his press conference, the Asturian coach underlined that the Yellows go into the match with the sole aim of winning it, despite no longer having qualification hopes: “We want to win the match and do so in front of our fans. We haven’t had the Champions League campaign we wanted, but we still have matches left in what is the best club competition in the world, and we approach them as a gift. As always, we will go out to be competitive and win the match.”

Despite having no chance of progressing, Marcelino stressed that there are still objectives at stake: “We are playing for our professional prestige and the image of the club worldwide. We cannot forget that this is a match in the most important competition in the world. A tournament every player dreams of playing. Things haven’t gone our way, but it has undoubtedly been a learning experience. We will go out to win.”

Regarding the opposition and how he expects the match to unfold, the Villarreal CF head coach praised Ajax’s quality and noted that the team who defends better will win: “Ajax are a great team. They play with joy and bravery and have good technical ability. They are a very strong attacking side, but their numbers show they are better in that part of the game than in defence. The team that defends better will probably win. They have young and talented players with tremendous potential. They are precise and gifted in possession, but they suffer when they don’t have the ball. They will demand commitment and defensive solidarity from us, as well as our ability to play into space and with the ball to counter them.”

Finally, Marcelino confirmed there will be rotations, just as there have been in every match this season when the Submarine have had only three days between games: “We will not play with the same eleven as against Betis. We haven’t done that at any point this season. We have little recovery time and must make changes. The competitive level of the squad has shown us that anyone can play at the highest level with pride and ambition.”

Rafa Marín: “We want to beat Ajax”

Villarreal CF defender Rafa Marín stated that the Submarine go into the match with the objective of winning and dedicating the victory to the fans: “We want to win the match in front of our fans. I think they deserve it, just as we do, because we have played good matches in this competition but haven’t had the luck to get that win.”