Villarreal B visit the leaders as they aim to secure survival (Sunday, 9pm CEST)
Villarreal B head coach Miguel Álvarez appeared at the press conference ahead of the match against UD Las Palmas, the league leaders, who host a battling B team on Gameweek 40 of the 2022/23 LaLiga SmartBank season, in which the Mini Submarine could mathemtically secure their place in the second division for next season.
Another big battle
“The game the other day is a crumb of what we would like the boys to experience in their professional future. If they keep working on the present… This one will be similar. We’re playing against the leaders. Impressive pitch, impressive atmosphere. It’s a match they have to enjoy and compete in. It’s very nice, but if they don’t compete well, they’ll get the better of you.”
The team’s status
“I’m happy, because this week’s work was even easier than the others. We’ve never looked at the league table, we’ve always tried to compete and improve. You don’t achieve your objective if you don’t work on it day by day. They are aware that this is not over, and that we have to compete against very complicated opponents. We have two very important games to get as high up the table as possible.”
Looking forward to the game
“This week has been for them to understand what we are still playing for. We have a few absentees, but that’s been the case all year and we’ll make up for it. The team is great. The team is looking forward and what I’ve seen during the week I’ve liked. On a day-to-day basis, I can’t say anything against these guys.”
The opposition
“They are a team that have scored 44 goals and conceded 27. They are the lowest scoring team in the league. A team withwho combine well. Players with a lot of quality. We competed very well against them here. It’s true that they were down to 10 men, but we counter-attacked them, we had chances… In this game they’re going to subdue you. It’s going to be very different. They’re a team that we’re going to have a hard time getting our hands on.”
A clash of coaches
“We are capable of dominating several records, but we are on the bench, we don’t compete now. In our time, we played these kinds of beautiful, hard-fought matches. All the matches have been beautiful both at the Mini and at the Johann Cruyff. The pitch is going to be at full capacity and with players of a very high level. We’re going to try to have our best day and make sure they don’t have their best day.”
