El Madrigal: Home of Villarreal(credit:
Wikipedia)
Villarreal striker Marco Ruben is hoping the team can get their La Liga campaign back on track at the expense of Sporting Gijon today.
The Yellow Submarine have taken just five points from their last five games to slip four points behind Valencia in the fourth and final Champions League position.
But they will have been buoyed by their Europa League win over Bayer Leverkusen in midweek, and Ruben believes today’s visit of Sporting will be crucial ahead of a tough run of fixtures that includes games against Barcelona, Valencia and Athletic Bilbao.
He 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.”
While Villarreal’s most recent league outing ended in a 3-1 defeat to Atletico Madird, Sporting Gijon will have been boosted by a 2-0 win over Getafe last time out.
Watch Villarreal v Sporting Gijon liveat 365, kicking off at 18.00 GMT.