Málaga Club de Fútbol’s Vitorino Antunes held a press conference at the Ciudad de Málaga athletics stadium following this morning’s training session, to talk about the team ahead of Sunday’s League match against Fútbol Club Barcelona.
The Blue and Whites’ left-back starts by analysing Sunday’s game: “It’s going to be a difficult match as we all know how good the Barcelona players are. It’s important that we focus on our job on the pitch, keep calm and see what happens. From a personal point of view I always concentrate on my role in the team, whether I’m up against Pedro, Messi or any other player. It’s important to work hard and remain focused throughout the match. The dimensions of the Nou Camp will favour Barcelona, as they’ll try and retain possession as much as they can. However we need to maintain ball possession for as long as possible, remain calm when we have the ball and if we can do this in the attacking half then all the better. We played well in the first round match against Barcelona, they scored outside the penalty area and we had two great goal chances. Neither team was playing at 100 per cent, particularly as it was right at the beginning of the season. Despite the draw against Levante, Barcelona are an amazing team and very strong at the Nou Camp.”
Antunes, who is at optimum fitness at the moment, believes in his team: “The coach is the leader of the group and he’ll decide the best formation for this game. However whichever system we decide to use, it’s important we remain focused and play as well as we can.”
The Portuguese international hopes the Blue and Whites can start getting goals again soon: “We’re creating a lot of scoring opportunities, but we’re not getting obsessed by it. Even though we haven’t scored a goal recently, we’re not letting it get us down. As long as we continue to create chances to score, then the goals will eventually come. Could I score more goals? If I’m given the opportunity to carry out more free kicks then I’ll certainly try my best to score. I’ve only scored once, but I could score more given the chance. Duda is the best at free kicks; I train with him and he really is the best on the team at set pieces.”
Antunes is pleased with the debut of his compatriot, Flávio: “He performed very well against Levante, and also worked hard in the match against Valencia. I’m happy for him as he’s been through a lot. I hope he gets many more chances to play.”