Kondogbia: "Sevilla is a special game for me -but we have to focus on winning"

Geoffrey Kondogbia wore the captain's armband in Valencia CF's 1-0 win over Espanyol, and formed a midfield partnership with Carlos Soler in the middle of the park. After a solid performance, in which he had a series of opportunities on goal, he spoke to VCF Media about the match and the chance of European qualification on Matchday 38.

"I think that we have to come out of this game happy, because we always play to win. This is a good result for us. Now we have an important game remaining, and we are going to focus on that to try to beat a very good team," he explained.

"The idea is always to go out onto the pitch to win, regardless of the context. We have to do our job, which is to win games -whatever the case. It's normal to look at the situation, but we have to go out to win and then see what happens later."

Kondogbia needs no extra motivation, but the visit to Andalusia to take on Sevilla is a meeting with his former club that he always has circled on his calendar.

"It's been a very difficult year, for many reasons. I think that we have to think about that as well, and try to win for the fans -and for us as well.

"It's always a special game for me. I joined Sevilla when I was 18 or 19, and played my first LaLiga games for them. I’ve got good memories of playing there. But we have to think about winning there, and nothing else.

"We are up against very good opponents, who are tough to beat -especially at their home ground. Regardless of this, we always have to focus on winning. Then we will look at what's happened, who has won, who has lost... The intention is always to go out there to win."