Villarreal’s focus heading into their crunch Europa League match with Rangers is on one man – Alfredo Morelos.
The Spanish side were dealt a blow by Kyle Lafferty the last time the sides met. The Northern Irishman struck a late leveler to secure a huge 2-2 draw at El Madrigal. It set Rangers up to be competitive throughout the rest of the group in what was a big result.
Yet, despite that, the Spaniards aren’t worried too much about the threat posed by the big man. Instead, they’ve got their sights set on the in-form Morelos. That’s according to defender Ramiro Fuenes Mori.
Speaking ahead of the huge clash at Ibrox in just five days’ time, Mori had this to say in the Daily Record about the encounter.
“We know Morelos is a danger and we have to be wary of him in this match. It will be tough to stop him but that’s the kind of challenge that’s attractive to me.
“This match in Glasgow will be hard for us. If we win, our future in the competition is decided.
“We made errors against them in the first match in Spain which was 2-2. But we won’t travel to Scotland just to defend.”
Nobody better in the country at the moment
In terms of form, Morelos is the in-form striker in Scotland. He bagged his eighth goal in just nine games in the 3-0 win over Livingston. This was even after coming on as a substitute after another misfiring performance from Lafferty.
In terms of European football, Morelos hasn’t really shown his best work. Sure, the brace against Rapid Vienna were a massive pair of goals at the time, but Rangers will want more from him in the Europa League.
So far this season, the Colombian has bagged four goals in 11 European appearances for Gers. Not a bad return in truth, but it’s not impressive as his recent domestic run.
Fuenes Mori is likely to be Morelos’ direct opponent on Thursday night. It’s clear the centre-back has been studying the Gers forward too. Therefore, Morelos can expect the defender to likely get tight to him.
The El Madrigal side could have a trio of injury boosts ahead of the meeting at Ibrox too. A win for the La Liga outfit would put them through, whilst three points for Rangers just about secures progression.
It’s a huge match, and Morelos will need to step up and play his part on the big occasion.
