Julen Lopetegui alongside Pozo in the press conference

First team

LOPETEGUI: "WE'RE EXCITED EVEN THOUGH WE'VE ALREADY QUALIFIED"

27/11/2019

Lopetegui emphasised the need for his players to forget about the fact that they're already qualified in order to continue winning in Europe

Alongside Alejandro Pozo, Julen Lopetegui spoke to the media on the eve of Thursday's game against Qarabag: "We'll approach the game giving the maximum respect to ourselves, our fans and the competition. We want to be loyal to ourselves and to play well, despite the circumtances. Our opponents are going to be giving it their all and we need to match this intensity and ambition. We have to play well in front of our fans and continue our winning form in the Europa League. We will try to get the most appropriate starting XI out on to the field for this particular game, and those that play must have this ambition to perform well. I hope that a lot of people come and that they enjoy it".

There will obviously be changes, but it is yet to be seen whether the system will change as well: "We've already played once with two strikers. I have an idea in mind but we'll make the call tomorrow. The most important thing we do is prepare ourselves well for an opponent who will set the bar high when it comes to intensity and ambition". With Pozo in the press conference with him, he spoke about the academy: "I won't discover anything if I talk about how good it is. It's prolific, with many talented players who have quality and hunger. We sometimes have young players who come into training to cover the injured players, and they make us excited for the future".

The manager spoke about the importance of the game: "It's a Europa League game and we're excited even though we've already qualified. We tried to finish the job by ourselves and not have to depend on results from elsewhere. This, right here, is the strength of this team; that it doesn't need to hear what is said about the game to be motivated". In addition, he underlined the importance of all of his players: "They all work hard and they know it. One of the most important things to do in order to compete every Sunday is to apply yourself in every training session. This has to continue so that for every Sunday, it's difficult to pick the team".

"They all work hard and this has to continue in order to put out the best possible eleven each Sunday"

He was also asked about the presentation of the book to Jesús Navas and about his fitness: "It was a lovely moment, with a lot of recognition for Jesús and I hope that the best part of the Jesús Navas story is yet to be written. He trained today. We'll wait and see how he comes on and we'll assess him later on in the week". To finish off, he evaluated his team's performances and the much talked about lack of goals: "We did win the game on Sunday. If you analyse all the games, you will see that they're all equal and this if the first thing that you have to understand. From then on, we'll always try to play, to attack and to defend well".