Statements by Pellegrini

(Victory) "You never know if one goal is enough.  We need to play good football for 90 minutes, as the end results depend on one or two goals, so we need to maintain our focus in order to win.  You never know how the other team will react when you score a goal, but the most important thing for us is to keep playing well, and try to dominate the match.  You never know what’s going to happen in football, obviously if we score, it will make things tough for them, but we’ll have to wait and see how the match plays out.”
 
(Importance of this match to the team) "I think the entire city has conveyed the important of this match for the team.  We’ve shown how much this means to us throughout last season, and in last week’s home match. 
 
(Panathinaikos) "We were fortunate enough to qualify for the Champions quarter finals here with Villareal.  It was a very difficult match.  Now Málaga are looking to qualify to the group stage here.  Panathinaikos has always been a big team with strong players.  We’ve never been threatened by any particular shirt or team reputation; we’ve always tried our best which is what we’ll do tomorrow… try and win the match.”
 

Statements by Isco

(Preparation) "I think we’re ready.  For these sorts of matches, fatigue cannot be a factor, though we’ve been playing a lot.  The team is confident and eager to play as well as we can tomorrow.”

(Match philosophy) "We’ve got to use our motivation and confidence to our advantage on the pitch tomorrow.  We’re two goals up, and really need to try and score a third to avoid any complications.”

(Change) "On a personal level I’m pleased with my performance.  I’ve had the chance to play a lot, I didn’t expect so many minutes on the pitch.  We need to maintain our concentration and get a good result tomorrow.”