Villarreal had far surpassed expectations to reach the Champions League semi-finals this year. In the first leg of the semi-final against Liverpool it looked as if for the first time in the competition, the level had surpassed them.
Manager Unai Emery made no attempt to hide the fact that things hadn’t gone well for his team. The feeling of impotency with the ball in the face of Liverpool’s fierce press was reflected in Emery’s comments, as he attended to his press duties.
“In the semi-finals, you have to go up against these very powerful opponents and the surprise factor was diluted for us . It was a match that we wanted to win but weren’t able to; they didn’t let us take control of the game, they didn’t let us run…”
“Today was resisting as much as we could defensively in order to have a chance in the second match and that we did do. It will be different because we will come up with different things.”
“They [Liverpool] are going to suffer more than tonight in Villarreal.”
Unai Emery insists he’ll change a few things about his side as they look to overhaul a two-goal deficit on home soil.
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Even so, Emery was keen not to become too defeatist about the match. As he told Marca, it could have been worse.
“We know they are favourites, that they are better, but also that we can compete with them. Today we didn’t do that and we can’t say we did. But sometimes the negative results must be put in perspective.”
Defender Pau Torres was singing from the same hymn sheet as his manager after the match. Both Torres and Emery mentioned that Villarreal would play differently at the Estadio La Ceramica.
With just one shot all game, an off-target one, it’s hard to argue with Emery’s analysis. Star striker Gerard Moreno missed the first leg with injury, but should he be back for Tuesday’s fixture, it could go a long way to increasing both the ball retention ability and the threat that Villarreal pose.
