Marcelino has sympathy for Martinez

Villarreal Coach Marcelino has expressed support for Juan Ignacio Martinez but still wants to beat Valladolid.

The sides meet on Saturday evening and Valladolid go into the game in the relegation zone, three points short of safety.

By contrast, Marcelino’s Villarreal are pushing to overtake Athletic Bilbao and go fourth, into a Champions League position.

“We want to take it game by game and not waste time talking about the Champions League,” Marcelino said at a Press conference.

“We can’t let ourselves get distracted from the next game.

“We’re going to be in this division next season and to say otherwise would be silly of me. I can say that at least by looking at the points.”

It has been suggested that Martinez will be sacked if Valladolid don’t beat the Yellow Submarine. Marcelino offered sympathy for his counterpart but admitted he wouldn’t feel responsible if the rumours proved accurate.

“We’re going there to win and that’s all we can think about.

“I feel sorry for the Valladolid manager if he’s having problems but we won’t be the executioners.”

Tags Juan Ignacio Martinez Marcelino
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