Celades: "We felt good against Real Madrid at Mestalla and I hope we can repeat that"

Albert Celades talked to the media via video-conference on Wednesday to preview the Matchday 29 encounter against Real Madrid. The Valencia CF coach admitted that the performance against ‘Los Blancos’ in the Spanish Supercopa was not what he had hoped for, but urged his side to compete as they had done against Madrid at Mestalla earlier this season.

The game at Valdebebas

“The objective is to have a good game tomorrow, compete and try to win. We want to achieve the best result possible. After the game against Real Madrid, the objective will be to prepare for Osasuna, without thinking about fifth, sixth, seventh or fourth place. That has to be our day-to-day idea. We have to focus on improving and prepare well for every game, because it's going to be very demanding -for every team, not only for us. We have only two days' rest between a lot of the games, and everybody has something at stake. That's our idea.”

Real Madrid’s strengths

“They are a very strong side, with some of the best players in the world in their squad. They have a lot of alternative options and are very demanding to play against. If anything stands out about them that is different to previous seasons, it is that they have been very solid defensively and conceded very few goals. They are the LaLiga side with the fewest goals scored against them. That didn't used to happen in recent years. They are a team full of great players and have a magnificent coach. Real Madrid are at the highest level and have the best in their ranks.”

Gabriel Paulista’s absence from the squad

“We didn’t want to force the situation. There are many games coming up in few days, it is going to be very demanding and we thought it would be too big a risk to include him for tomorrow.”

Gayà’s fitness

“Gayà is fine. He had a problem in the last game against Levante UD, but he has been able to train with the group. He’s fit and he could play from the start.”

Working on mistakes made in the derby

“We’ve spoken about it. We’ve worked on this situation. We aren’t happy with how we handled the final minutes of the game. Our idea wasn’t to drop as far back, nor to suffer as much. We are aware of this and will try to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Recent games against Real Madrid.

“We’ve had two games against them: One at Mestalla and the other in Saudi Arabia. The feeling was very different in both of them. We felt good about the game at Mestalla, and I think that we had a good game. I hope that we can repeat that.”

Kondogbia’s return from suspension

“The more players we have, the more alternatives we have. In this process of so many games in a row we are going to need everybody. Bringing back Kondogbia from suspension is another alternative. He's a player who gives us many things in the midfield, and we are happy to have him with us again.”

Diakhaby’s morale

“Diakhaby is in my plans, just like every other player in the squad. We have all made mistakes. We have to be a strong group and all look in the same direction. We are going to work on getting him back. We are going to help him, because he has to do his bit -just like everybody else- in this final stage of the season.”