Pepe Mel: “We’re a match away from getting out of there, and we can do that in Valencia”

Pepe Mel, Málaga CF coach held a press conference this Friday afternoon in the ‘Juan Cortés’ press room at La Rosaleda, before the #LevanteMálaga matchday 18 fixture in LaLiga SmartBank.

Regarding the physical situation of certain players, Pepe commented: “We’re waiting for tomorrow's training session to see how Burgos is, he’s the only one who could make it into Sunday's game. Definite casualties are Cristian and Juande, who had a degree of discomfort that seems to be more serious, and won’t be available until January.”

Despite this, the Madrid-born coach cautioned that the team has prepared “a way of being forceful and strengthening the game against Levante. Let no one think that we’re defeated, that we’re going to give up and that we’re not full of optimism. We have to continue the streak of not losing and make the matches tough for our rivals,” he said.

Levante UD are one of the strongest teams in the division: “All the teams that go down are more financially solvent and have First Division squads. They have Iborra, Campaña, De Frutos, Soldado...”. However, the Blue and White coach has affirmed that “it doesn't matter what your name is or what you’re like, we are all in the same league and it’s hard to win in this division. We’re going there to compete,” he confirmed.

Pepe has seen the team progress in recent weeks. “We’ve got a difficult match calendar coming up, the two matches are going to be tough, but in the Second Division anyone can beat anyone. We’re not looking at any other team, we’re a match away from getting out of there, and we can do that in Valencia. Three points are nothing, they are within our reach. We have to try to get to January with the team out of the relegation zone,” he concluded.