Dani Parejo still expects Manchester United to be stern challenge for his Villarreal side in spite of the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Villarrealhost United in the Champions League on Tuesday night at the Estadio de la Cerámica, with both sides level on points at the top of Group F.
Victory for United will seal their place in the round of 16, but if the Liga side win by two goals or more, it will be the hosts who are guaranteed a place in the knockout stages.
It will be United’s first game under the stewardship of Michael Carrick, who was appointed caretaker manager following Solskjaer’s dismissal on Sunday, while the search for the new manager begins, with Mauricio Pochettino, Brendan Rodgers and Zinedine Zidane amongst the favourites for the job.
Solskjaer picked up just one win from his last seven Premier League games, a run that included five losses and culminated in a 4-1 defeat away to Watford on Saturday.
But Villarreal midfielder Parejo is still expecting a difficult challenge from the away side.
In three pre-match press conference, he said: “This type of situation, usually you are more alert. We expect to face the best Manchester United.
“It’s a difficult game. All the games in this competition are complicated. We are prepared. I know that they have magnificent footballers, the key is to work as a collective.
“It’s true that we are home with our people and our stadium, Manchester United have a better level of players and it’s a difficult game, but we are excited, and we have lots of hope that we can pick up three points.”
“Our objective is to be in this competition, to fight in the best way possible. We have an opportunity to progress if we win, it is close, we have fought a lot with a lot of sacrifice.
“It is going to be very difficult, but we are optimistic at home.”
In their first meeting in September, United came from behind to beat Villarreal at Old Trafford, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winner in the 95th minute.
But it cannot be forgotten that it was Unai Emery’s side that won last season’s Europa League, defeating United in the final on penalties.
