Villarreal manager Unai Emery has commented on his side's journey so far in Group C of the 2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League.
The Spanish side are the team to beat in the group with three victories so far over Lech Poznan, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, and now a 5-0 victory over Austria Wien with 11 goals scored and four (4) conceded in total.
Thus, Villarreal are currently top of Group C with nine points. Second-placed Lech Poznan have four (4) points with Villarreal able to secure progression to the knockout stages as early as Matchday 4.
Following Thursday's victory over Austria Wien at the Estadio de la Ceramica, Emery stated that his team's aim is to finish top of Group C and secure automatic qualification to the playoff round.
In his post-match press conference as reported on the official Villarreal website, the former Arsenal manager noted that Villarreal must continue to respect the players and the competition itself.
Emery said: "We must maintain the line we have of respect for the competition and the teams. Our objective is to finish top of the group.
"Next week we have an important game and we must prepare well to play a very complete game."
The attack-minded tactician also revealed that his team were able to keep a clean sheet against their visitors after conceding four (4) goals in their first two matches in the group.
"Winning convincingly gives us confidence. I personally like to score goals, but I also like to keep a clean sheet. Today's game was very good in that aspect. We have grown a lot defensively," Emery concluded.
Villarreal will play Real Sociedad away at the Reale Arena on Sunday, October 9 before travelling to the Generali Arena in Vienna for the second leg of their clash scheduled for Thursday, October 13.