Villarreal braced for Everton test

Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini has warned his players about the dangers Everton will pose to them at Goodison Park.

Villarreal play the first leg of their Champions League qualifier on Merseyside tomorrow aiming to capitalise on their third-place finish in the Primera Liga and make their first ever appearance in the group stage of the competition.

The Spanish outfit may not be the biggest name in the Primera Liga, but successive appearances in the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup show they are a team to be taken seriously.

However, Pellegrini admits Everton will provide a serious challenge to their ambitions and is worried their aerial power could prove to be his side’s undoing.

“Everton are a side that have huge physical strength, they are commanding in the air and are very strong at home,” he said.

“They are difficult opponents, but as you improve then your opponents are going to get harder all of the time. We respect them, but we do not fear them and they can’t have been very happy with the draw either.”

Pellegrini also stressed the importance of scoring an away goal in tomorrow’s game.

“If we don’t do that, then it gets really hard if we concede a goal at home ourselves,” said the Villarreal coach, who has finally included midfielder Josico in his 19-man squad after he shook off an ankle injury picked up last week in a friendly against Albacete.

However, he hinted that new signing Alessio Tacchinardi would get the nod to start the game.

“He controls the position of defensive midfielder well and it is a position where we are slightly lacking,” he admitted.

Villarreal will, however, be without pacy forward Jose Mari and defender Santi Cazorla, while Armando Sa has been left out for tactical reasons.

Meanwhile, midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme is adopting a ’wait and see’ attitude to Everton’s potential.

“I don’t know what Everton are going to do because I never pay much attention to our opponents, what I worry about is that we play as we know how to,” said Riquelme, whose partnership with former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan was so fruitful last season.

Several Villarreal players have said they consider Everton to be the most difficult side they could have been drawn up against, but the Argentinian is not convinced.

He added: “We’ll see if they are the hardest side we could have got or not at the end of the tie. At first glance that could seem to be the case, but we will find out for sure on the pitch.”