Moreno: "We don't just want a 'near-victory'"

RCD Espanyol's Sunday fixture against Villarreal sees Los Pericos travel to the Estadio de la Ceramica, looking for a victory after back-to-back draws with FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC. Another tough opponent awaits them in the 2pm CET kickoff, and coach Vicente Moreno spoke about the task ahead in his pre-match press conference.

 

"They are the side that we play this week, and they are the ones that we have to try to beat. The presence of fans has important connotations -the most important- because they will be there in significant numbers. But that also gives you a responsibility and a motivation to win the game on Sunday," he said, noting the expected attendance of some 1,400 travelling fans.

 

"Obviously, we are aware of the difficulty of the match. We are up against a team who five days ago played against Juventus in a Champions League tie that they deserved to win; they were far superior to them in my point of view. We are talking about big European teams. The level of difficulty is there, but our mentality is to play as we have been doing. We don't just want a near-victory, but to win the game, because we need it, we want it and our fans deserve it."

 

Striker Raúl de Tomás has been grabbing the goals as of late, but Moreno warned of the dangers of relying solely on his contribution.

 

"We have to give Raúl peace of mind," he said. "We can't put all the responsibility on his shoulders. He's a player who is giving us fantastic performances, and who is willing to help enormously, but we have to keep him calm and support him. It's a matter of everyone. Obviously, we are talking about a player who has proven to be very, very important for us. We want him to continue in that way and improve even more, because he has the capacity to do even better. We all need to support him, because it's a task for all of us."

 

Refusing to be drawn on his tactics for Sunday, the coach told the press that "nothing in life is certain. We can guarantee what we did in previous games, but since we have a training session tomorrow, we are going to see what players we have. Today we might think one thing and tomorrow another. We have been playing well and we have been close to winning against powerful teams, although that does not guarantee victory against Villarreal. We have studied them, we are going to see what players we have and from there we will decide what we are going to do. But we have more or less decided already."

 

In terms of absentees, Moreno commented that "Manu Morlanes is doing much better, but we have the clause in his loan deal that means that he can't play in the Villarreal game, so we are taking things more calmly. He's a player who won't have a problem being available next week, at least to start training and see what his condition is. Aleix Vidal is out through suspension, then we have David López, who is close to starting training with the group, but for now he is still unable to play. We will see if we can get him back soon, because he's the captain and he's an important player in every way. We'd like everyone to be available."