Villarreal vs Sporting de Gijon preview - Villarreal seeking domestic success - 7M sport

Villarreal vs Sporting de Gijon preview - Villarreal seeking domestic success



I have a say

Posted Sunday, March 13, 2011 by PA

Villarreal will look to build on their impressive midweek European success by getting their Primera Division campaign back on track with a win over Sporting Gijon.

Villarreal went into Thursday's Europa League last 16 first leg at Bayer Leverkusen having previously picked up just five points from a possible 15 in La Liga, a run that had seen them slip to fourth sport, four points behind Valencia.

However, Juan Carlos Garrido's men enjoyed a morale-boosting victory in Germany, with Nilmar's injury-time strike earning them a 3-2 victory over the Bundesliga high-flyers.

That means the Yellow Submarine will be favourites to progress through to the quarter-finals in next week's second leg at El Madrigal, but before that they face a clash with a Sporting side who came within minutes of beating Villarreal at home earlier this season.

Striker Marco Ruben, whose side needed an injury-time penalty from Giuseppe Rossi to salvage a 1-1 draw from their trip north, said: "We already know from the game at El Molinon that they are a very difficult team to overcome.

"We have to take advantage of playing at home to get the three points. Winning your home games is very important to get into the Champions League.

"These are three crucial points because we have to win five or six games still and we have a very difficult fixture list awaiting us."

After this weekend's game, Villarreal face successive matches against Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Real Zaragoza and Sevilla in La Liga.

Sporting have improved a lot of late and in their last 10 league games they have lost just twice and picked up 16 points - more than doubling their tally for the season.

Manuel Preciado's side are still precariously close to the relegation zone, lying two points above the bottom three, but midfielder Sebastian Eguren is optimistic about their chances of staying up.

"We have been more together recently in defence and more attentive," said the former Villarreal man.

"We are playing more like we did earlier on in the season and I believe we will stay up."



Attention: Third parties may advertise their products and/or services on our website.7M does not warrant the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of their contents.
Your dealings with such third parties are solely between you and such third parties and we shall not be liable in any way for any loss or damage of any sort incurred by you.