Unai Emery underlined that the Yellows will need to show continuity from the first leg to qualify for the quarter-finals
Villarreal head coach Unai Emery, and Mario Gaspar, appeared in front of the media to analyse the build-up to the game against Dynamo Kyiv, corresponding to the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 second leg (Sunday, 9pm CET).
During the remote press conference, the Basque manager spoke about the following subjects:
Game plan
“The aim is to build on the work we did there, we know their individual capabilities and their danger danger on the counter. We knew how to manage the game by controlling the ball without letting them dominate the tie. We need to try and win the game, to respect them, and be conscious that we need to go out and build on the first leg.”
Continue the good run of results
“The idea is to continue like we’ve been playing in recent games, the team’s trajectory has been good, but after this bad run, these two matches certify that. Now we need to build on that in this match, it’s a competition where we have managed to win every game at home, something which we are finding harder in the league. We need to try and continue like we’ve been playing, keeping the same level of play to continue growing in confidence.”
Win more convincingly
“It’s true that we’ve been able to get some wins, but in tight games. We’ve had to suffer to win and we haven’t done it comfortably in the league. We’ve let games slip away because of that, and it’s something we need to improve on, and we’d like to do that. They will play to their strengths and make it difficult for us, but we have an advantage from the first leg, which helps us. We haven’t won the tie yet, we need to be confident and go out and try and win the game. It’s true that we would like to win more convincingly, but in this match, we don’t need as much of an advantage, which is the best thing about having got an advantage in the first leg.”
Don’t relax and be competitive, despite the advantage
“We’ve just had a tie against Salzburg, where we had to work hard, even with an advantage from hte first leg. They made it very hard for us, and we have that example for this game. We’ve got a good result, but we know we need to give continuity from the game there, analyse the opponent, respect them and from there, put in a serious performance so the tie ends in our favour.”
There is still a second leg to play
“The tie is always even, we have an advantage but there are 90 minutes left to play. If you’re the favourite, you have to show it on the pitch. We know what they are capable of doing, so we need to build on what we’ve done so far, and play at the same level if we want to get through this round.”
Mario Gaspar: “I’m hungry to get minutes under my belt”
Villarreal captain Mario Gaspar underlined that he is starting to get back to match fitness after recovering from his muscle injury and returning to the pitch against Eibar: “I need a bit of competitive rhythm. I felt good playing the other day, and I’m hungry to get minutes under my belt, play and help the team.”
