Statements by Pellegrini
 
“Saturday’s match certainly won’t be an easy one against Espanyol; they’re a great team who shouldn’t be in such a low League position, and they’ve got a fantastic coach who’s been working with them for years.  We’ve recovered well in the two days since the Champions League match, and I’m confident that we’ll play well tomorrow.”
 
“I can’t say how Espanyol will perform in this match, but they’ve got a certain style of play that I’m sure they won’t change.  The most important thing for us is that we have a good day tomorrow, play well, and continue our winning ways.”
 
“Monreal has taken longer to recover as we weren’t sure what we were dealing with at first.  He suffered a few problems in the warm-up before the Atlético de Madrid match, and wasn’t fully recovered when he returned to the pitch.  Time-wise, we’re not sure how long he’ll take to be back to full fitness, but hopefully as soon as possible.  Toulalan, Baptista and Sergio Sánchez are also all still injured, though Toulalan is in the last phase of recovery so I hope he’ll be back next week.”

“We first played Espanyol two years ago, but even though we played well, we were defeated.  It was the start of a very important time for us, and we’ve been improving ever since to get the level we’re at now.”