Demichelis: “We need to win to stay in fourth place”
Martin Demichelis, who returned to training yesterday following a bout of gastroenteritis that prevented him from finishing Sunday’s League match against Atlético de Madrid, held a press conference this morning at the Ciudad de Málaga Stadium.
Although Champions League fever is already surrounding the team ahead of Wednesday’s match against FC Porto, Demichelis affirms that the priority right now is Valladolid: “None of the players will be thinking about Wednesday’s match when we get to Valladolid. We’ll be doing whatever it takes to ensure our concentration remains on the League match, and not focusing at all on Wednesday’s game until after Saturday. Losing in Valladolid would be a crushing blow for us, which could throw some doubt over our performance on Wednesday. We’ll be doing everything we can to come home with a victory this weekend.”
The fight for European positions is more intense than ever, making a victory against Valladolid even more crucial: “We’re well aware of the importance of a win this weekend, as the number of direct rivals all vying for European places in the League is extremely tight. Last weekend’s results fortunately went in our favour, but we need to win this match in order to stay in fourth place.”
Regaining control of the ball is key to winning, according to the Argentinean-born defender: “Manuel Pellegrini always drives home the fact that maintaining possession and playing as well as possible is paramount. I hope we enjoy the match on Saturday, but above all we defend well, keep control of the ball and impede our rival’s goal chances.”
The ‘Malaguista’ speaks about the rumours over his possible move to River when his contract ends on 30th June: “They know that both mine and Javier Saviola’s contracts are up at the end of the season, and they’ve mentioned that they’d like us to go back. I’ve never said I’m moving back to River, or received a pre-contract or anything similar. I’ll make the decision at the end of the season, but there’s a lot to play for with Málaga and my priority, and what interests me most now, is Málaga CF.”
Regarding this decision, Martín evaluates the important decisions made by the Club: “When a player has an important decision to make, many factors come into play, and the most important thing for me is to focus on what Málaga can do in the future.”
