Gilberto on Villarreal
From Icons.com - Monday 17th April 2006
This entire article is the voice of Gilberto himself:
I am pleased that we will be playing the first match at home. Some people usually say it's better to go away first, but I believe it's better to start things in front of your own fans and try to build an advantage for the second leg, which would put them under pressure to perform at home.
We all know we have a great opportunity to make it to the final and don't see any kind of big anxiety among the players. Neither do I sense over confidence after the Juventus tie. We are all professionals and are aware of what the Champions League represents for Arsenal, their fans, and our careers.
The players should seize the moment, for we have gone further than many people predicted. But there is an enormous responsibility on our shoulders, for if Arsenal don't make it to the final we are all going to get a lot of stick. Having said that, it seems everybody involved with the club has the feeling we are getting closer to a title the club has been chasing for so long.
I haven’t had many chances to watch Villarreal playing, but it's obvious that they are going through a very good moment in Europe - funnily enough, they are also struggling a bit domestically, like us - especially after seeing off Inter Milan against all the odds.
So far we have played two extremely traditional teams in the Champions League knock-out stages, but I reckon the situation changes a bit now. Against Real Madrid and Juventus we could say that more of the responsibility was on their side. But Villarreal are a team in their first season in the tournament and Arsenal are the team with the bigger name in this tie.
Villarreal are on a high for reaching the semi-finals and have less to lose than us, so we have got to be really careful.
Riquelme is the maestro for Villarreal and it's really good to see him recovering after that bad spell at Barcelona. His vision is amazing and he can also shoot really well. And let's not forget Diego Forlan. He's a quality striker. He didn't have enough opportunities at Manchester United to show what he can do. When I played for Brazil and drew 3-3 with Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier, he scored one of the goals and looked great.
