The people from Castellón face their first duel after the departure of Emery, with the tranquility of the assured leadership in the European competition
MADRID, 26 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Villarreal continues its European adventure in the Conference League this Thursday (6:45 p.m.) against the single Hapoel Be’er Sheva, in what will be the first game after the departure of coach Unai Emery, kicking off Quique Setién’s stage in the castellonense bench in a duel marked by the placid leadership held by the ‘Submarino’.
The ‘groguet’ team faces this affordable European match after a few days convulsed by the unexpected departure of Unai Emery, coach with whom the Castellón team lifted the Europa League and reached the semifinals of the Champions League in the two seasons of the Basque coach . The one from Hondarribia accepted the juicy offer from the English Aston Villa, fifteenth in the Premier, leaving a large gap on the Villarreal bench, who quickly found his replacement in the figure of Quique Setién.
The Cantabrian coach conducted his first session on Wednesday, which served as the first contact and to begin to establish the foundations and foundations of his project in Villarreal. “I want to transfer all the knowledge of these more than 40 years to them and enjoy them and make the club grow, which has been created practically from scratch and that 25 years later is still in the front line and is a reference. I think I am now the envy of many coaches”, stressed the man from Santander, “ambitious” with this new challenge, after more than two years without training.
And his journey with the ‘Yellow Submarine’ will begin in Europe, where Setién’s last memory is not positive. The last time that the Cantabrian sat on a bench was in the 2-8 that Bayern endorsed FC Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the 2019-2020 Champions League. The people of Castellón hope, also with the security of the lower level of the rival team, that those old ghosts do not appear this Thursday, in a match that should be a formality for Villarreal.
As he advanced in the previous match, Setién will not make any major changes in the team that faces the Israeli Hapoel Be’er Sheva, due to the little time he has had to acclimatize to the squad and be able to cultivate his game model. Far from a great revolution, the Cantabrian could assess the introduction of players with fewer minutes in the legs to distribute the load, taking into account that on Sunday they will visit San Mamés, with Europe at stake.
The coach will not be able to count on the injured Gerard Moreno, Juan Foyth, Étienne Capoue and Alfonso Pedraza for his first trip with the ‘Submarino’. In addition, Raúl Albiol and Pau Torres, the two starting central defenders, have not trained with the group, so they could be rested against the Israeli team.
The yellow team boasts of full victories in this Conference League to establish themselves as a solid leader of their group with 12 points, 12 goals for and 4 against. Opposite, Hapoel is third with three points, still without a win. Scoring points at the Ciutat would allow him to continue in the fight for second place with Lech Poznan and keep his European dream alive.
The Israelis have gone seven games without losing, with the defeat (1-2) against Villarreal in the first leg as the only blur in their last ten games. In their domestic competition, they are third, five points behind the leader Maccabi Tel Aviv, and as a visitor they have not lost in an official match since May.
