Pellegrini’s statements:
(Injuries). “We have four injured players, Baptista for a long time, Enzo has got two weeks to go, Camacho has a sprain and Apoño has a contracture which I believe means that it’ll be risky for him to participate in this match. The squads are made for these such situations so when there are injuries we have people who can replace them.”
(Valencia). “The rival we’re to take on is in third place, they’re a great team and that demands an addiitonal motivation. We plan all games the same, within the operational aspects of the team, and with alterations according to the rival, but I have no doubt that we’ll go for the game from the beginning. Last year we had a great game but we lost 4-3. It would be important to win against one of the main rivals after Madrid and Barcelona, it would be a stamp of authority to play well and win the match. I don’t think it’s helpful to look back at last year, they’re different realities and different teams.”
(Assesments at the end). “We have variants all year, suddenly one comes in as another goes in performance, but the forwards and midfielders can’t all be playing. I like to always be as high up as possible. We’re in European positions, to make an assessment right now would be complicated and in December it wouldn’t mean anything. Personally, as manager, I don’t makegeneral assessments match by match.”
(Names). “Ruud didn’t play against Osasuna because he can’t play Sundays and Tuesdays consecutively because of his knees, they stop him for 48 hours, so we favour one match over another and on this occasion it was the Copa, there’s no problem. The 19 called-up players have the possibility of playing. Juanmi has trained with special dedications, he’s a young player and we’re trying to get the most out of his performance. Every player’s performance is important, if it’s Juanmi turns to play it’s because he’s having a good run. Juanmi has always got many goals and let’s hope that he maintains this quality quota. Sergio Sánchez? There are 19 players on the list, 11 play and seven on the bench, and the rest didn’t make the list.”
