Fran Escribá warned that tomorrow’s UEFA Europa League opponents, FC Zürich, are strong in the air
Villarreal CF Manager, Fran Escribá, spoke at the press conference today about his squad’s debut in the UEFA Europa League against FC Zürich (Thursday, 9:05pm CET, El Madrigal stadium). The Manager assured that the Submarine will face the match with “maximum respect” as the Swiss side are in the competition because they have earnt it. “It is a prestigious club with international players. It wasn’t too long ago that they were playing against us in European competition”. He also discussed the importance of this first UEFA Europa League match: “We are going to treat them as the best team in the world. We have prepared for this game with the same intensity as always”.
Escribá admitted that some of the less regular players are going to play, but will not be revealing names until the starting line-up is released. “Players like Cheryshev can get minutes in these games. We want to get the players back up to speed who are going to be important for us”, he said.
With regard to tomorrow night’s rival, FC Zürich, he stressed that they have very good players who have “a difficult aerial game to counteract”, with two big centre backs and two full backs who put the ball forward well. The Submarine’s coach mentioned a few names, among others, that should be taken into account: Oliver Buff (attacking midfielder), Džengis Čavušević, Armando Sadiku (strikers) and Roberto Rodríguez (right midfielder).
“We’ve watched their last few matches and seen and studied their players”, Escrtibá added. “I don’t think they’ll take risks, I think they’ll be well organized and try to counter attack quickly. They have a few different ways they can play and we have to be ready for all of them”, he analyzed.
Santos Borré: “We are very confident”
For his part, Villarreal’s Colombian striker, Santos Borré, stressed that the team believe in their chances 100%, ahead of what will be a great campaign in the UEFA Europa League: “The group is very confident. We’ve been getting there slowly but surely, we had a lot of new people and we had to adapt. We play at home and we have to be responsible and get a good result”.
With regard to FC Zürich, Santos Borré said it will be anything but easy to overcome the Swiss side at El Madrigal: “The Manager has got it into our heads that it will be a difficult match. They are a team that can make things difficult at any moment, but we’re the home side and we have to go out there to win. As we’re playing at home we have the responsibility of getting the maximum points possible to make us more comfortable”.
The Colombian striker predicts a match in which the Yellows will not have much space to work with: “It is going to be a tight and tough match in which they are going to want to take points from us and not many risks. I think they’re going to be a well-connected team and shut off space for us to create any chances. We have to be clinical with the chances we get and make the most of the spaces they give us. Their aerial game is very important for them and they could score in that way”.
