Marcelino has admitted that he feels 'lucky' to be in charge of Villarreal following their 2-0 victory over Granada in La Liga on Saturday.
The Yellow Submarine closed the gap on fourth-placed Sevilla to just one point courtesy of their win against the Andalucians, and the Coach was quick to pay tribute to his side's team ethic.
"It was important to win after the narrow defeat at Camp Nou," he told assembled journalists.
"We consider it very important to regain winning ways. We showed enthusiasm and competed at a high level, but the two halves differed.
" At first we did many things well, we got a goal and created four distinct chances. I was pretty happy with our first half.
"However we weren't as effective in the second and struggled a little to find our rhythm.
"I'm lucky to have this squad. These players perform very well. Regarding the 11 [on Saturday], I was convinced that they were going to perform well, despite some generally playing more than others.
"We're in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey and still in the Europa League, so we can rotate players. The key to this Villarreal is the group. It's our strongest trait.
"[Joel] Campbell did better than against Getafe and that makes us optimistic. It's not easy to start playing all of a sudden after a January move.
"He did some very interesting things and I'm confident that when he has better fitness, he'll contribute a lot.
"I must praise what the team have done so far, but that doesn't mean that we're not ambitious or won't keep improving.
"Villarreal are having a great season, but we have to go step by step and not think too much about the future. It's true that in the second round of the season, it's harder to win.
"The days go by and it all becomes more difficult. It's why I give so much importance to this victory."
