MADRID, 28 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Valencia, Gennaro Gattuso, has ensured that talk of “lack of experience” should be stopped to justify the team’s recent poor results, since it is “an easy excuse”, and has stated that this Saturday against FC Barcelona the “priority” is that the match “ends at 95 or 100 minutes, not at 65 or 70.”
“All the games scare me, the Spanish LaLiga is not easy. Everyone thinks that Barcelona comes here to win easily. We have to respect the opponent, but the game starts zero to zero, there are eleven players against eleven”, he declared in Press conference. “You have to talk a little when you play this type of game. The game prepares itself, it’s not difficult,” he added.
In addition, he considers that they should not focus only on stopping Polish striker Robert Lewandowski. “Barcelona is not just Lewandowski. Lewandowski is a man who scores a lot of goals, he is a great striker, but Barcelona has a lot of quality players who can score,” he said.
Nor did he want to assess the problems and the elimination of ‘Champions’ from the Barça team. “I like to talk only about my team. I have too many problems to think about what happens in the Barcelona dressing room. We are seeing two different Barcelonas; the one from LaLiga has scored many goals and is playing incredible football, and the one from Europe is different. It has a lot of young players and a lot of personality,” he said.
However, he spared no words in praising the culé coach, Xavi Hernández. “I’m very happy to meet Xavi. When we played, I ran a lot and he didn’t run much. He’s a great coach, I have a lot of respect and esteem for him. He has a great head, he’s very particular and he likes football. It’s an honor to meet me with him,” he said.
In another order of things, the Italian coach insisted that his team will not change their style to face the Catalan team. “I like that the team follows its style of play, although it is normal that we see how Barcelona plays, the players they have… We have to respect it, but the style and mentality of my team is not going to change”, he explained. .
Regarding the state of his team, who have accumulated three days without winning, Gattuso asked not to look for more excuses. “Experience is a very easy excuse. We have to end here and talk about what’s going on,” he said. “In 11 games they have put themselves ahead eight times, this is normal, it is not a coincidence. It is a fact that we have to improve. I believe in the team a lot, I have a lot of confidence. The other day I was sad and it is normal, because if I see how this team plays we are losing incredible games. When I look at the table, I think we should have 19 or 20 points, and we have 15. We have to work and talk about how to improve, because we have lost incredible games, “he warned.
“When I was at Milan, when the team had a set piece against me, I was incredibly afraid. In my head I experienced it in a negative way, everyone said that a set piece was a disaster. We don’t have to think that we are young people, who have no experience, we have to improve this. The priority is that the game ends at 95 or 100 minutes, not at 65 or 70, “he continued.
Regarding the losses for the duel, he acknowledged that they have “problems in the midfield and in defense” with the absence of the injured Ilaix Moriba and Mouctar Diakhaby, while Samu Castillejo and Eray Cömert are “well” and available. “Musah is suspended and Nico cannot play because of the clause,” he recalled, noting that he will decide later if Foulquier plays “in midfield or as a winger.”
He also wanted the Valencian fans to be with them for 90 minutes. “I have always seen a great atmosphere in Mestalla and I think that tomorrow we will have 45,000 people in the stadium and it will give us strength. There are great fans and I am very proud of that, and I hope that tomorrow we play a game that makes our fans proud” , he indicated.
Finally, Gattuso wanted to send a message of encouragement to the Valencian Monza footballer Pablo Marí, stabbed on Thursday in Milan. “This is part of our life. I’m sorry, I saw it yesterday at home on television. A boy who worked in the supermarket has died. I saw that he had an operation and that he will have to rest for two or three months. I wish him a good evolution and good luck,” he concluded.
