Pacheta admits to feeling excited and predicts a demanding European opener against Panathinaikos (Thursday, 6:45pm CEST)
Villarreal’s head coach, José Rojo ‘Pacheta’, appeared before the media this Wednesday to analyse the build-up to the continental clash against Panathinaikos, which will be the club’s return to the UEFA Europa League after being crowned champions in 2021.
In his first appearance before the media, he emphasised above all the motivation the team has ahead of the competition: “The team is really looking forward to it. All the players are committed and extremely motivated to play in the Europa League again.”
“I am excited. It is a privilege to participate in European competition and to do so, moreover, with a team that has won the most games in the Europa League since 2010”, continued Pacheta.
As for the match, the Villarreal head coach predicted a tough encounter in an imposing setting: “A great atmosphere awaits us in this stadium. Then, I hope that we will be the masters of the match and that we will be able to do it through the ball. It won’t be easy. Panathinaikos have a great team. They have just eliminated two top level opponents in the Champions League qualifiers and were knocked out despite playing two very good games. They will be a very difficult opponent to take into account in this tournament.”
Furthermore, Pacheta underlined that the Greek team is an opponent with many virtues: “I expect a Panathinaikos with power, with confidence, with players who break lines with driving, with automatism, with quality and speed and with a head coach who has been with them for three seasons. They are going to make it very difficult for us and they will be a tough opponent to beat.”
In order to get a good result, the manager has stressed that accuracy with the ball will be fundamental: “It will be key not to lose balls in difficult areas, especially because they are an opponent who, if they catch you on the counter, they’ll kill you. Without a doubt, we have to be very careful with losing the ball. We have to be more attentive, it’s one of the aspects that we need to improve, and we’re trying to do that, even though we don’t have much time to put it into practice on the pitch. Although we will do it through videos, nobody should suffer because the players will assimilate the concepts.”
Finally, Pacheta assessed Group F, in which Villarreal will be competing with the aim of reaching the next round: “In this group, anyone can go through. We are four teams with different characteristics, but in this group stage, if you have two bad days, you don’t go through. We, because of our history, because we won it two editions ago, we could be one of the favourites, but I don’t like to say we’re favourites. But if it’s because of history, yes, we are one of the favourites.”
