Musacchio confident ahead of City match

Villarreal’s Mateo Musacchio thinks his side can beat Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday despite their slow start to the season.

Villarreal are struggling to replicate their performances of last term, languishing in 13th place in La Liga and losing all three of their games in Group A so far.

With Giuseppe Rossi, Marcos Senna and Cristian Zapata the latest additions to the Spanish side’s injury list ahead of the clash at El Madrigal, Roberto Mancini’s team will go into the game as favourites.

Regardless of the factors stacked against them, the Argentina international defender feels his side can take three points.

“We are very confident and eager to reverse the situation in the Champions League,” Musacchio said.

“We have two home games and one away. We have the same enthusiasm as ever, are eager to play well on Wednesday, and finish with a positive result.”

The home side may be missing key players through injury, but the 21-year-old feels the replacements have the necessary quality to adequately fill in.

“Unfortunately these are things that cannot be avoided, which are beyond our control. We are not doing things wrong, but these things happen and happen to all teams,” he said.

“Reserve players come prepared. I am confident because I played for Villarreal B and know that if you play in that squad you can do very well with the first team.”

Villarreal must win the fixture to have any chance of progressing to the next stage, and will take some confidence from their 2-0 league win over Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.