…..Villarreal wary of Gilberto.
April 25, 2006
It seems that Gilberto frustrated Villarreal more than he realises. He has expressed earlier this week that he is wary of Villarreal – but all the press is focusing on how wary the Villarreal players – Riquelme in particular – will cope with Gilberto.
Here’s what Santiago Fuertes of El Pais says about Gilberto for the Villarreal game tonight:
After the first leg Villarreal were complaining bitterly about the referee, especially because of the incident between Jose Mari and Gilberto. There was a foul just inside the box and they complained a lot about it.
My personal impression is that they were impressed by Arsenal. On the one hand they were happy that Arsenal only scored one goal but on the other hand there was the penalty which, if it had been given, would have given Villarreal an away goal.
They were impressed by Gilberto. The players said they were ‘choked’ because of his marking of Juan Roman Riquelme. He did a good job and Riquelme lost his nerve a bit. He was outraged by the decision not to give a penalty and that is his way, it was the same when he was at Boca Juniors and Barcelona.
I think Arsenal are the superior team. Arsène Wenger has done an intelligent job and he has more options than Villarreal, because they rely on one man to make things happen.
The Villarreal team has some bite, they will be very competitive. And of course, they will look to get Riquelme into space whenever they can. He needs to get away from Gilberto and get more time on the ball.
Here is what Riquelme himself says about Gilberto:
Gilberto did his work well at Highbury, and did a good job following me. When you have a defender with you all the time, the only solution is to do better than him, but the rhythm of the game did not let us, or me, play better than him. This time, at El Madrigal I will get away from him by playing better and by playing quicker.
Go Gilberto – grab your ticket to the Champions League Final!