Villarreal vs Sparta Praha - Suarez setting sights on more Europa League glory

Posted Wednesday, April 06, 2016 by PA

Denis Suarez has already experienced one Europa League trophy win and has his sights set on another.

The 22-year-old midfielder was an unused substitute for Sevilla when they beat Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-2 to win last season's competition.

Having joined Villarreal in the summer, Suarez is enjoying another extended run in the Europa League.

The Spanish side are favourites to beat Czech outfit Sparta Prague in the quarter-finals but, ahead of Thursday's home first leg, Suarez is taking nothing for granted.

"The Europa League makes us really excited," he told Villarreal's official website.

"I already won it last year and we want to win it this year too. We must focus on ourselves. We're the favourites, but Sparta Prague come to us after knocking out Krasnodar and Lazio and so we can't think it's won.

"Our season is going excellently. We're playing really well in the league and in the Europa League we're in the thick of the knockout stages, where we must fight to the death.

"Playing at home in the first leg will benefit us. We must play hard to win and keep a clean sheet so we can defend our lead at their ground."

Sparta have plenty of reasons to be confident too, however, as they are unbeaten in their 12 Europa League outings so far this season.

Wideman Martin Frydek admits Villarreal have the more technically gifted players, but insists the team ethic which has worked so well for Sparta thus far could yet see them spring a surprise.

"The feeling we have just from getting to the quarter-finals is fabulous," Frydek told uefa.com.

"Villarreal will be very tough opponents obviously. Like all Liga sides they have marvellous technical ability. There are two difficult games ahead of us.

"Villarreal might have better footballers than us, but we have made the most of our teamwork and can do so again."