Fran Escribá and Rukavina call for the team and fans to come together against Osmanlispor
A very important match. Villarreal face Osmanlispor FK this Thursday (9:05pm CET) on Matchday 4 in the Group stage of the UEFA Europa League. The Yellows are in first place in Group L, one point above the Turkish side and FC Zürich, who both have 4 points. “We’re going to face this match the same as we have the previous ones. We are coming from a defeat against Eibar, but that doesn’t change our approach. We have to make sure that we don’t give away the ball in dangerous areas and we must dominate the match. We have a game plan, but the players are the only ones that need to know this”, Fran Escribá commented.
The Villarreal Manager did not think twice about sending a message out to the fans: “The fans know that it will be a tough match after watching the first leg in Turkey. Their support will be paramount tomorrow, as it has been all season. I’m sure they won’t let us down because we’ll try not to let them down either”.
Fran Escribá talked about the way to get the three points: “I hope the match will be different to the one in Turkey, because they started very well there. We don’t want that first half to be repeated. We want to dominate the match from the first minute. In the first leg we controlled them better than the final result showed. Their wide midfielders are a dangerous weapon for tomorrow’s match. They will try to beat us there and so the wide play will be very important”.
Lastly, the Manager confirmed that Pato is available and that he will put the best possible eleven out on the pitch: “I feel comfortable with whatever change I make in the side. I have a squad of more than 20 footballers, all at the highest level. There will be players playing that don’t play as much, but the eleven will be the most reliable to face this tie. Pato has trained perfectly. He is available, but we’ll see whether he’s ok for the whole match or just a portion of it. For us it’s great news to have him back because he was key in the match in Turkey”.
Rukavina: “We must be mindful of their counterattacks”
Antonio Rukavina also spoke at today’s press conference at the El Madrigal stadium. The Serbian right back warned that it won’t be at all easy to beat Turkish side Osmanlispor: “If we win tomorrow we can go through to the next round. A difficult match awaits us, as we already faced one in Turkey. If we can repeat our performance in the second half we can get the three points. We know it is a very important match. We all have the same goal, which is to go through to the next round as first in our group and get far in the competition. We want to equal last season’s performance and even beat it”.
