Mathijsen’s statements:

(Santander).  “It was an important victory, but it’s important to win every game.  We needed to win away; and now November, December and January are important months to show that we can be high up the table.  Goal?  I scored this goal, but the important thing is that the team defended well, the team was well-grounded and we’ve got to keep on winning.”

(Holland). “In the defeat against Germany they played very well, they’ve got some young guys who are very good and they’re the best team after Spain.  But it was only a friendly, even though one of the toughest in Europe.”

(League breaks). “It’s always difficult for a new team to have international players out for ten days, it’s not easy.  It was good to return before and to be able to prepare a few days ahead of the Santander match and now we’ve got another three months until the next FIFA break.”

(Villarreal).  “It’s another match.  They’re the hardest team to judge on the table, they’re a good football team, and apart from Madrid and Barça, all the other teams are of a similar level.”

(MCF injuries). “That’s football, it’s difficult to always play the same players, and for that reason they make broad squads, because there are always injuries.  We have 25 players and, moving forward, we hope to have better luck with injures.”

(European objective).  “We talk about this as the Club and the team want to be in Europe in the future.  But we only think about getting the three matches from the next match, you need to win ever game, and there are 30 something clashes so we’ll see if we can get this objective.”

(Improvements in play). “We know that we’re playing some great football, but we’re aware that we have to improve.  We’ve got to go out fighting and to win every match.”