“The win gives us peace of mind ahead of the international break” | OneFootball

Marcelino praised the team’s second-half performance and celebrated the first clean sheet of the season

Villarreal head coach Marcelino García Toral spoke to the media to analyse the win over Deportivo Alavés (3-0). The Asturian coach was satisfied with the emphatic home win: «We had a bad first half, far from our best. Luckily, we changed the dynamic in the second half. It was very good and that’s why we got the win. It’s well deserved, although perhaps a little too emphatic.»

The Asturian coach celebrated the fact that Villarreal have kept a clean sheet for the first time this season: ‘We didn’t concede. We worked hard to achieve this. We knew this moment would come, sooner rather than later. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue this dynamic. Today we’re very satisfied with the win. It gives us confidence and peace of mind ahead of the break.»

Marcelino also underlined the notable improvement in the second half: ‘’We were ourselves. We did almost everything right, unlike in the first half, when we weren’t ourselves. We weren’t accurate and we made a lot of mistakes. Playing like that, we weren’t going to win. Even though we went into the break with a lead thanks to a brilliant Ilias goal.»

Finally, the Villarreal CF head coach commented on injuries to Kiko Femenía and Ilias Akhomach: «Kiko’s injury is muscular. We will have to wait for the tests to determine the extent of the injury. We are quite worried about Ilias. He is undergoing tests at the moment. Hopefully the diagnosis is as minor as possible and we’ll have him with us soon.»