🎙️ Guedes: "We have 11 games remaining and we're going to face them like 11 finals. We are going to try to finish inside the Champions League spots"

The 2019/20 season has been a stop-start campaign for Gonçalo Guedes, and not just because of the current break in LaLiga action due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Portuguese has had injury problems over the past year which have prevented him from getting a continuous run of games for a long duration, but he says that he is now healed up and ready for the resumption of the season.

“The break was fairly good for me, because now I have no pain from the injury that I had. I worked hard during the quarantine period, I feel very good and I want to help the team as much as possible,” he told VCF Media this week, after the first training sessions for the full squad together.

“Our entire normal routine has changed in terms of the phases for playing football. We were training in small groups and not the entire team, which was very difficult for us, but it's a one-off situation that we got used to. Now we are making the most of having everybody together again, and trying to give our all because there's not long to go before the first game.

“We missed being together. We're always joking around, but it's time to work, be very serious and give everything that we have.”

A tough series of fixtures is on the horizon for Guedes and the rest of the Valencia CF players, but they have an objective firmly in their crosshairs.

“We have 11 games remaining and we're going to face them like 11 finals. We are going to try to finish inside the Champions League spots.

“We know that it is going to be difficult with the heat that we have in Valencia, for example, and with 2-3 months of inactivity that is never easy. We know that we are going to have a lot of difficulties, but we have to overcome them and train as much as possible to be ready.”

As for his personal aims, the Portuguese is keen to make an impact before the season is out.

“I want to get back to being top goalscorer and assist provider. I want to have good games and help the team. It hasn't been easy, with the two injuries that I've had here, but that's in the past and now I have to focus on the future and the present. I am ready to help the team as much as possible and I'm training hard to return in top shape.”