The Yellows reserves hailed his players’ attitude throughout the season
Miguel Álvarez, Villarreal B manager, appeared in front of the media this lunchtime to preview the first leg of the first round of the Segunda División B play-offs against UD Melilla at the Mini Estadi at the Villarreal CF Training Ground (Ciudad Deportiva).
The Mini Submarine boss highlighted his side’s eagerness to take on this challenge after having had tough moments at some points of the season: “We’re in a great place mentally, better than ever. With all the suffering we had at the start of the year, now we’re in a phenomenal place. We have 24 players. They’re all fit, not like in January, February and March, when we had six or seven injured, and four more with the first team. The team has really high morale. The boys want to enjoy this as they’ve worked so hard to get here.”
Moreover, he emphasised the trust he has in his players: “What they’ve done deserves a lot of credit and I’m going to continue trusting them, and even more now, as we’re in a promotion fight.”
However, the Yellows’ reserves boss recognised the toughness of facing UD Melilla, but he underlined that Villarreal B were going to give everything: “Melilla are a team that they say are made to go up, but our boys also have something to prove in the play-offs and teams that want to beat us will have to work hard. We want to win the tie, obviously, while we respect our opponents.”
He also underlined the privilege to be able to dispute a promotion play-off, calling on the fans to fill the Mini Estadi: “Working in youth football, we know how to appreciate play-offs. There are a lot of teams with massive budgets who haven’t been able to get there. Football is more better with a full stadium, it’s a lot more beautiful and motivating for such young boys. We hope there are a lot of people there and that everyone gets behind us.”
Finally, he underlined his satisfaction at having Manu Morlanes and Xavi Quintillà available to him, as they are usually in the first-team squad: “If they’re in the first team it’s because they’re the best. We’re happy with the players we have, but at the end of the day, there is a hierarchy. These two players give us a superior value as a collective, because they have already played a lot of games with us and they know how we play.”
