Garrido hoping for a miracle

Juan Carlos Garrido admits it will be difficult for Villarreal to overturn the four-goal deficit against Porto in the Europa League.

The Portuguese champions thrashed Villarreal 5-1 in the first leg of their semi-final a week ago, and the Spaniards need an unlikely four-goal win of their own in the return fixture on Thursday if they are to avoid elimination.

They would be the first team to recover from a four-goal deficit since Real Madrid did it against Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup, and Garrido believes his team has the quality to progress to the final.

“I think we have a good team and high quality players,” the coach said.

“Our game is always about attacking, being offensive, playing football and having the ball – looking for elaboration and going for goals.”

“And in this game we are going to do it in a much more vigorous way, with more intensity and enthusiasm because we know the prize is big.”

Porto’s record of seven wins in seven away games in the Europa League this season makes it a huge task for Villarreal.

They also have Radamel Falcao in their ranks. The striker scored four goals in the first leg, equalling the competition’s goal scoring record of 15 overall.

It’s a record he now jointly holds with Jurgen Klinsmann, who hit the same amount in the competition when he was at Bayern Munich.

The winner of this tie will play either Braga or Benfica in the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on May 18.