Statements from Joris Mathijsen
 
(Victory against Espanyol) “We’re much more comfortable with this win against Espanyol, who are a very good team, and they showed it.  Having won gives us peace of mind, particularly after losing three consecutive games”.
 
(Work on defence) “No one can be sure how to win or defend in each match, otherwise we’d never have had that bad run of results.  It’s normal to lose your confidence a bit with bad results.  We didn’t play well, especially in the first part of the game, but now we’re more concentrated and aggressive, and have corrected the dynamics.  We know that not everything was great against Espanyol, but we went out and won, and we’ll continue to improve”.

(Betis) “They’re going through a bad losing streak, but winning or losing a game doesn’t determine the result of the next.  Statistics are there to break and they want to do that with us”.

(Teammates)
Van Nistelrooy: “We all like him to play.  He’s playing well, he’s a fighter, and always scores goals and will continue to do so”.
 
Monreal: “He played a good game and helped us to win the match”

Demichelis: “With Martín I’m good.  We’re still getting used to one another, and improve each week.  It’s a job we do for ourselves and for the whole team, we keep improving in the details, and playing with Martín is always a pleasure”.