First team

MONTELLA: "WE HAVE TO THINK ONLY ABOUT VALENCIA"

09/03/2018

The coach, without wanting to underplay the importance of the Champions League, made it clear that all focus should be on Valencia and their most important players

Vincenzo Montella appeared at the Sports Village a matter of hours before the match on Saturday against Valencia. He wanted to first pay tribute to compatriot Davide Astori, who died last Sunday before the Fiorentina match in Udine: "It's something inexplicable, it hits home, because Italy is one of the countries with the best controls for athletes. I would like to remember him as a very good guy, it was always a pleasure to see him".

Logically everyone will be thinking about Tuesday but in the dressing room the team needs to go step by step: "We have to think only about Valencia, recover and later on we will think about Manchester. Tomorrow's match will be the most important and then on Sunday we'll focus on Manchester". He also spoke about Juventus as a possible example to follow after qualifying in England: "Juve has spirit, tradition, a great mentality and great players. They also have a great coach and this time they also had a bit of luck, which we hope to have on Tuesday."

Regarding absences, he stated that "we have released a statement and Navas will not be ready for Tuesday. As for Roque Mesa, he's fine but it is not easy for me to make a list of 18. I do not like leaving anyone out but he's getting better and it's just a technical decision. Corchia is better and today I've seen him running, even if it's on the sidelines".

"The most important thing is Valencia and then we'll think about United"

In Italy, the match can be taken as a battle between Montella and Zaza: "He is a player that I like a lot, we followed him at Fiorentina and at Milan and I am happy with how he is doing in Spain. I'm also happy for his goal the other day, because he hadn't scored for a while and having the tension removed helps us". As for his analysis of Valencia, he believes that "they are a compact team, united and well organized, they have a great transition of play and patience to take the ball to their strikers. They have great players, but I expect the usual, which is to be able to play great football and win".

Finally, he acknowledged that the team should not be over-motivated this week: "You have to come into the big games with an appropriate level of motivation. If you go in fifth gear and then put it in sixth you can break the engine, so you have to get to the right energy and if you don't you might never find it".