Míchel praised Liverpool ahead of tonight's Champions League match. He also confirmed the recovery of Jhon Solís.
Matchday six of the Champions League phase starts with a Colombian match. On one side are Jhon Solís and Yaser Asprilla with Girona, who host the tournament leaders, Luis Díaz's Liverpool, in Montilivi this evening.
On the eve of the match, Girona coach Míchel Sánchez was full of praise for his team's opponents, a team that is quick to punish mistakes: “Liverpool dominates every concept of the match, from defense to attack, but if we do our best, we will we do that too. Have a chance, because in football everything is possible. It is a historic match for Girona,” the coach told reporters.
One of the Spanish coach's biggest concerns is transitions – an area where his team has been sloppy defensively. That is something they cannot afford against a team like Liverpool, where players like Luis Díaz, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo are quick to strike at the slightest mistake.
Girona coach identifies Liverpool's strengths
“We always have to be a very aggressive team defensively. We have to be aggressive, with and without the ball. These are the aspects that we must continue to improve. The data shows that we defend well, but there are times when that is not the case. One of the most important areas is transitions and Liverpool are the best team in the world in that area. If we don't dominate that transition and recover well when we lose the ball, it will be very difficult to keep a clean sheet. When you face Liverpool you grow and you have to take advantage of these opportunities,” Míchel explained.
More Liverpool virtues: “They play a very dynamic game, they change their structure at any time. They have players with great intensity, they are also one of the best teams out there in pressing. All their attackers will generate danger, they have strength in set pieces, the quality of their full-backs, they stack forward and put a lot of bodies in the area for set pieces… In recent games they have had more than twenty shots on target, they are a very difficult team to stop.”
The Reds' attacking force: “I have a thousand pieces of data that prove they are among the best clubs in the world. If they get the ball back in less than 15 seconds, they are the best team in the world at creating scoring chances, no matter whether they get the ball back in their own half or in the opponent's half. They're in a low block and one of the full-backs reaches the byline. At high intensity they will overwhelm us. They don't have to run much and we do more than ever.”
Jhon Solís is available again
During Girona's recent surprise elimination from the Copa del Rey, losing on penalties to Logroñés, Jhon Solís suffered a sprained ankle, ruling him out of the weekend match against Real Madrid. The good news is that he has now recovered and is on the list for Liverpool.
'Jhon is doing well, he has been called up. We miss Bojan [Miovski] who suffered a serious ankle sprain during the last training session. We miss him for this match; we've had three or four players have sprains, it's unbelievable. Jhon sprained his ankle on cup day and was unable to play in the league, but he has recovered. Yangel [Herrera] is active again, in the final stages of recovery we will see if he can play for the last match against Valladolid, but it may be rushed and we may leave him after the holidays,” said the coach.
While Liverpool are steadily progressing to the last 16 with a perfect five wins from five, Girona is already out of the running. They are in 30th place with only three points and have no chance of reaching the next round.
The teams finishing in the top eight qualify directly to the last 16, while those finishing 9th to 24th advance to the play-offs, with the winners of those ties advancing.
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