‘Espanyol made us work for it’

Marcelino Garcia Toral was delighted with how Villarreal responded to Espanyol’s ‘direct’ play, but he isn’t getting carried away with another win.

El Submarino Amarillo ended Los Pericos’ unbeaten start to the season on Thursday evening with a 2-1 result at El Madrigal.

Goals in the first minute from Jeremy Perbet and midway through the second half from Jonathan Pereira proved enough that Sergio Garcia’s late effort was only a consolation for the visitors.

“We knew this game was going to be very complicated,” Marcelino mused post-match.

“Espanyol made us work very hard to win the game because they were very direct and that caused us to have to find the confidence to attack them with care.

“We pressed well when without the ball, whilst at a defensive level we took no risks. Our goalkeeper intervened little and that means that we are a balanced team.

“The opponent created little danger and so we believed that we could attack with peace of mind.”

The Yellow Submarine are now alongside Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid as unbeaten in La Liga this season.

“The goal for Villarreal remains survival. Until we achieve that we cannot think of anything other than going game by game.

“We are a solid team and after today we think only to recovering and going into the game against Real Betis as if we had zero points.

“We hope to reach 42 points as soon as possible because that would give us peace and joy.”

Tags Marcelino
La Liga - Club News