Nico Williams “is fine” and “connected”, and aims against Levante
Just after the Cup quarterfinal match against Valencia at Mestalla, in which the Williams brothers were the protagonists of the goal … of the victory that gave him a place in the semifinals, the oldest in the saga announced that “Nico told me that he is seeing the light” in a season in which until now he has been hampered by pubalgia that, among other things, has prevented him from playing five of the eight games in the Champions League.
Yesterday, when asked about the evolution of the Navarrese winger’s physical condition, Ernesto Valverde confirmed that “he is fine and we hope that he gets a little better each time. «We have been like this all year, but we hope that with this impulse and this need it will help us. “It’s connected,” he explained. The player and medical services opted for a conservative treatment that did not give the expected results and the youngest in the saga went to an external specialist on two occasions, the first in November.
The rojiblancos face the momentous duel against Levante with the losses of Vivián and Berenguer, who have not recovered in time. The first suffered an overload in the adductor muscles of his left leg after the defeat in Seville and has already missed, including this afternoon’s game, four games – the last one in the Champions League against Sporting de Portugal, the derby against Real and the Cup quarterfinals. Berenguer, for his part, continues to have problems with his right toe that prevented him from traveling to Mestalla and that have also greatly affected his performance this season.
Paredes, who still has one game of suspension left to serve in the Cup, and the recovered Laporte – who played 60 minutes in Valencia – emerge as the centre-back pairing against the Levantine team, despite the good level shown by Monreal in his debut. «It was very good. Other times he has been close to debuting and the team’s situation has made it take longer. We have been in a delicate moment with the center backs and he has responded, but it is not a question of a game but of a career. At the beginning, the players have to look for consistency,” says Txingurri about the reserve team’s centre-back.
The return of Yeray, who follows a special training plan to get ready after his doping sanction – he will be able to play from April – will help alleviate the problems in the back line.
