The Villarreal manager underlines the commitment of both Yellows fans and players against Eibar
Villarreal manager Javi Calleja appeared in front of the media after an unforgettable ‘cup final’ against SD Eibar (1-0), the last home match of the season, where the Yellows mathematically confirmed survival.
The head coach highlighted that the aim was to get the three points against José Luis Mendilibar: “Today the main aim was to stay up. We’ve had a lot of suffering throughout the season. We’ve found ourselves in a situation we weren’t expecting and achieving our aim has a lot of merit.”
The manager, who was clearly emotional, underlined the aim of the fans in this ‘cup final’, as their support was crucial to get a victory: “The atmosphere was spectacular. Both fans and players have always shown their commitment and they believed that we could do it. The reward for all the hard work came today and I would like to thank everyone who helped me, especially the president.”
The Yellows boss insisted that they were completely focused on the match, as a win would mean they did not have to worry about anyone else’s results: “We knew that a win would keep us up. Our heads weren’t anywhere else but focused on winning the match. It’s clear that the results were getting to us. We were aware and one of the things that we most celebrated was Levante’s goal. That was a little bit of energy that we needed to close the game.”
Finally, Calleja emphasised that the suffering of this season will make them stronger: “What we’ve experienced hardens us all and makes us better. One of the conclusions that we’re taking away is that playing in the top flight isn’t easy. We were used to playing in Europe, but this year we’ve had to learn that playing in Primera needs your full focus every game. We need to value what we’ve achieved because playing in the top flight year after year deserves merit.”
