Denis Suárez recognises it “won’t be at all easy” to beat AC Sparta Prague in El Madrigal
Denis Suárez is really excited, but wary. Villarreal’s talented Galician footballer says how excited the UEFA Europa League makes the team, but at the same time he recognizes that their next opponent, AC Sparta Prague, will be a tough hurdle: “The Europa League makes us really excited. I already won it last year and we want to win it this year too. We must focus on ourselves. We’re the favourites, but Sparta Prague come to us after knocking out Krasnodar and Lazio and so we can’t think it’s won”.
According to the Yellow number 18, the Submarine’s season is going brilliantly, as they sit in fourth in the table and this Thursday play in the Quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League (9:05pm CET, in El Madrigal stadium): “Our season is going excellently. We’re playing really well in the league and in the Europa League we’re in the thick of the Knockout Stages, where we must fight to the death. Playing at home in the first leg will benefit us. We must play hard to win and keep a clean sheet so we can defend our lead at their ground”.
Denis Suárez also wanted to send a message to the Yellow fans to make sure El Madrigal is full to the brim this Thursday to put the pressure on Sparta: “The excitement and motivation are going to be there because it’s the Quarter-finals of a European competition. The fans have to fill the stadium like they did against Barcelona. It’s not every season that you play in the Quarter-finals of a European competition. That’s as good an incentive as any”.
To finish, the midfielder highlighted that the win against Eibar has strengthened the morale of the team even more: “We knew that playing against Eibar at their place was going to be anything but easy. We got the result we needed and our rivals in the table didn’t get wins, so that was good for us. We have a considerable advantage now, but it’s not definitive and we can’t be careless. We always focus on ourselves and winning the next match. We don’t think about anyone else. And that has been going well for us. We are the leaders of the “other league” (after Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid) and we’re proud of that”.
