Strength and hard work
“It’s certainly true that when we look at previous games, the actions by the referees has undermined our possibility to gain more points, that’s evident. However, we’re hoping that the decisions in forthcoming matches will be good ones. We must focus on ourselves, and not rely on anyone else to do our job well, nor let our performance be determined by other teams’ mistakes. What makes us stronger is forgetting about all that and concentrating on our job, and if we receive the support of our fans at home, we’ll perform at a higher level.”
Eye on Valencia
“Playing against Valencia is always difficult because of their potential. They started off competing in the Champions, at a top level, and experienced difficulties like every team does. However, they do have potential. Due to the same circumstances, they are in a situation they didn’t expect, but I know the difficulty they present. We struggled in the first round due to the potential they have. I know what the reality is. They are capable of everything and we’ll need to be very alert in order to have options and achieve something positive. Experiences from previous matches help us to prepare for this match.”
Final stretch of the League competition
“The obligation (to win) I always put on myself, it doesn’t matter if it’s Valencia, at home or away, or against the bottom-placed team; the obligation to win is innate and is the best way to affront all matches. With this necessity and obligation, there are three points in play and there’s no other way to claim them. It’s an important moment to take this step. We’re not thinking about teams that might be in a ‘comfortable’ situation, and who have already secured their season. There are teams that have not had a victory in 10 games, who were in a privileged position. There are 12 matches left, and I want to send a message to show that we’re aware of the great difficulty, and Valencia are a team made to complete, even in the Champions.”
Objectives, physical regeneration and competition
“We’re going to try and compete for these three points and win the match whatever happens. I’m not thinking about objectives further ahead than tomorrow’s three points, which is what’s really important. We’ll take it step by step and see how far we get. For the physical regeneration, the best thing is to achieve good results and have a good dynamic; the blows hurt less and the injuries are usually fewer. We won’t have any problems competing at our maximum performance in the upcoming games. There’s great competition for certain positions and this will help the team to maintain a high level for the remainder of the season.”
