Marcelino said Villarreal want to lock up third place as soon as possible, and would rather do it in front of their own supporters when they face Sevilla on Sunday. The Villarreal coach said the team has had just three days between matches, with the opponent enjoying one more day of rest, but insisted the squad is prepared to keep pressing for a finish that has been within reach for much of the season.
“Ojalá podamos repetir el guión del partido ante el Levante,” Marcelino said, pointing to a recent performance that showed how his side can handle rotation without losing control. He said Villarreal made changes in Bilbao and produced “a very good match,” were superior against Levante, and got strong performances from the players who came in. The coach said everyone trained normally and that there seemed to be no absences available for the match, a relief after the strain of the trip to Mallorca, where he said the adverse climate made the effort especially heavy.
Villarreal have spent much of the campaign in third place, and Marcelino said the standing reflects the team’s consistency more than a late-season surge. He said the club have already recorded three third-place finishes in their history, but stressed the immediate goal is to defend that spot by winning at home. With the league entering its decisive stretch, each result now carries more weight than it did earlier in the season, especially for a side trying to manage fatigue while staying at full pace.
That is why rotation has become part of the plan. Marcelino said the club made changes in Bilbao, will likely do so again this round, and needs all 16 players who take part to stay at a very high level. He said the changes against Levante did not weaken the side; they adapted and delivered a very good performance, which ended in a comfortable win. For Villarreal, the test is no longer only about who starts, but about whether the whole squad can keep producing at the same standard every few days.
Sevilla arrive with a different profile than the one they had earlier in the spring. Marcelino said the coaching change has altered their dynamic and that the last two results have pulled them further from relegation danger. He described them as a difficult opponent regardless of league position: intense, defensively solid and capable of hurting teams with talent. He also said they have been stronger at home than away, a split that matters less now than the energy and organization they have shown in recent weeks.
For Villarreal, the formula is straightforward. They want the result that secures third place, they want it at home, and they want the match to look like the one against Levante. Marcelino’s message was less about celebration than completion: the season has put Villarreal in this position often, and now the task is to finish the job before the pressure shifts somewhere else.
