The Villarreal number 6 is the outfield player with the most minutes in the league for the Submarine (1,710)
Víctor Ruiz has been the most utilized outfield player by Marcelino García Toral in the league. The Yellow centre back has accumulated 1,710 minutes in 19 league encounters, starting in all of these. Only French goalkeeper Areola has played more minutes for the team (1,890). Counting all competitions, Víctor Ruiz has played 2,351 minutes (1710 in the league (Liga BBVA), 540 in the UEFA Europa League and 101 in the Copa del Rey). Absolutely tireless.
In the last match against Espanyol he couldn’t play due to suspension, therefore he was able to rest. “I had the weekend off and I feel ok. All is well with the team, but we are working hard to make sure we get the win against Granada and secure fourth place. I am happy with my performance, but I can always do more”, he commented.
Víctor Ruiz believes Saturday’s match up will be difficult: “I expect a similar game to when we played Betis, as we know they also need the points. I think they’ll be ready to get us on the counter attack. Granada has very fast players and we will need to control the game and use our initiative”.
Villarreal is the third team to have conceded the fewest goals in the First Division with 18 goals against in 21 games. “The manager is persistent in that we must make an effort as a team to avoid our opponents’ attacks. Throughout this week of training we’ve been working on defending, particularly so we don’t get scored on in games, and so far we are doing it well”, Víctor Ruiz summarized.
To finish, the number 6 said El Madrigal must be a fortress in order to qualify for that fourth place at the end of the season: “The second round of games is going to be really demanding, above all away from home. Therefore we have to compile a lot of points at home to have margin for error. No doubt, Athletic, Sevilla and other teams are going to be fighting for fourth place. We have quite a good point gap, but there are many games to go. We’re not going to drive ourselves crazy with the qualification and we’re going to keep getting points, three by three. Then we’ll see if we’re capable of maintaining fourth place. To give up the Champions League spot, today, is not going to happen”.
