‘Villarreal should’ve won by more’

Marcelino felt “it was a pity” his “extraordinary” Villarreal did not win by a greater margin after Thursday’s 2-1 win against Sparta Prague in the Europa League.

Cedric Bakambu’s brace was enough to give Villarreal the lead in their quarter-final tie against Sparta ahead of the return leg in Czech Republic next week, but Marcelino rued his side’s failure to make more of their chances count.

“We did everything extraordinarily minus the success [in front of goal],” the Coach said after the game.

“I’m very proud of the team, but it’s a pity that we didn’t pick up a bigger victory.

“Fortune smiled on [Sparta] just enough, but maybe it will smile on us in the return leg…

“If a team has 27 shots on goal and 12 clear chances and the rival has two shots on target … They only beat us on cards.

“Villarreal were solid and strong in both defence and attack, but we weren’t clinical.

“Despite this, we were able to win and that’s not bad at all.”

Tags Marcelino Sparta Prague
La Liga - Club News