Sevilla vs Villarreal preview - Toral wary of Sevilla threat

Posted Saturday, May 03, 2014 by PA

Villarreal coach Marcelino Garcia Toral has warned his players not to expect Sevilla to suffer any hangover from their Europa League heroics.

Los Hispalenses clinched their place in the final in Turin on May 14 on away goals with a dramatic injury-time strike from Stephane Mbia in Valencia on Thursday night to book a showdown with Portuguese side Benfica.

There were delirious celebrations both inside the stadium and back at home after victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat in the nick of time, but Toral is expecting no favours when Villarreal travel to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in the Primera Liga on Sunday.

He told the club's official website, www.villarrealfc.es: "Sevilla always gives the same fear.

"It's a great team, very competitive and it showed that on Thursday night.

"The effort they have put in in their recent matches does not seem to have affected them much. We saw how they could rout Espanyol and Granada while involved in European competition.

"They have a great squad and to me, after the big three, they have the largest and highest capacity template."

That 4-1 victory over Espanyol and a 4-0 success against Granada came amid a run of three successive league victories for Sevilla.

However, their charge was brought to an abrupt end last weekend when they were beaten 3-1 at Athletic Bilbao, a game in which defender Diogo Figueiras was sent off 18 minutes from time, and they lost by the same score on the night at Valencia in the Europa League, although having won the first leg 2-0.

While glory in that competition may be firmly on their minds, there are still domestic issues to be decided with three games remaining.

Sevilla currently sit in fifth place in the table, six points behind Athletic and two ahead of Real Sociedad, and Champions League qualification is still a possibility, if a remote one.

Seventh-paced Villarreal still entertain European hopes of their own, but realistically would need to beat Sevilla to stand any chance of overhauling them or Sociedad to secure a top-six finish.

However, they are currently engaged in a run of indifferent form having lost three of their last four league games, the last of them 3-2 at home to Barcelona last Sunday.