Villarreal manager Marcelino has insisted that his side will not be negatively affected by the Anfield atmosphere during the second leg of their Europa League semi-final with Liverpool on Thursday night.
The Reds produced a memorable comeback against Borussia Dortmund in front of their own fans in the quarter-finals, and need to come from behind again tomorrow night having fallen to a 1-0 defeat in the first leg last week.
Marcelino warned that his side can expect a "different" Liverpool to the one they came up against at El Madrigal, but insists that there is no pressure on his players due to the disparity in resources between the two clubs.
"Liverpool as a club have an extraordinary squad of footballers when you consider [Christian] Benteke cost €50m (about £39.5million - he actually cost £32.5m), which equates to the whole turnover of Villarreal as a club. We come here full of hope, we are going to give everything we have got and we will enjoy ourselves. Our main aim is to be competitive. We feel we have the capabilities we can make it through to the final," he told reporters.
"This group of players needs to be proud of what they have achieved as we are already qualified for the Champions League. This is an occasion to be celebrated. In no way whatsoever will we be affected negatively by the atmosphere, if anything we will be affected positively and galvanised by it. We will suffer at moments in the game, we will find it tough but we can cause them trouble. The game will be decided by the team who are more assured at key moments in the game.
"I think we will see a different Liverpool tomorrow. They will try to press us further up the field. I think they may be a bit more direct than they were (in Spain). I think we might possibly see a new system and a change in personnel. All those factors will not affect us in any way. We think we know how Liverpool can be dangerous to us and we also know where we can cause problems in their weaker areas."
Villarreal are bidding to reach the final of a European competition for the first time in their history.
Barney Corkhill
