Villarreal head coach Unai Emery expects a difficult match against Real Sporting Gijón, who will try and cause an upset
The Yellows head coach appeared in front of the media to analyse the upcoming Copa del Rey match against Real Sporting de Gijón (Thursday, 6pm CET). These are the standout aspects of what the Basque manager had to say:
The team’s current situation
“The team has worked well today with the players who are available for tomorrow’s. match. Now, more than ever, we’re a team and that’s the most important thinks taking into account the absences that we may have for different circumstances. Being a team is the most important thing, and in important moments of the season like this, the players need to show that, like you saw last Monday against Levante. Tomorrow in Gijón, it will be the same, we need to be a team because it’s crucial for all of the players to be ready for the absences we could have.”
Excitement for the cup
“The Copa del Rey is a competition that excites us and in which we’ve set ourselves objectives. Those objectives are aiming to be one of the favourites to win the tournament and continue getting certain improvements right to be able to take part in the Copa del Rey, LaLiga and the UEFA Champions League. We’re excited for this competition and we want to have a nice journey in it.”
The opposition
“The game tomorrow will be tough, but we want to take control of the ball and we don’t want to speculate with the result. We know that a team like Real Sporting are historically a top-flight team and that they deserve to be one again for everything in their history, for their fans and for everything the club represents, and that they could beat you. Each round of this competition is more difficult and tomorrow is another step to see what we’re capable of against a team with good footballers who will want to surprise us and be at their best in front of their fans, which is always extra motivation.”
Trusting the B team
“Tomorrow, players from the B team will travel to Gijón to do be with us and have the chance to play, so they need to be ready at all times.”
