Julen Lopetegui in the press room

LOPETEGUI: 'THERE ARE SEVEN MATCHES LEFT BUT THE ONLY ONE THAT INTERESTS US IS LEVANTE'

20/04/2021
The coach admitted some players were cutting it fine but 'it seems they'll be able to travel'

Julen Lopetegui offered the traditional pre-match press conference this Tuesday afternoon ahead of the team's trip to Valencia for tomorrow's match against Levante UD. The coach began with a message for the journalist Tito González from Deportes Cuatro who is undergoing a medical problem, wishing him 'a quick recovery.' Moving onto the game, Julen stated that he was expecting 'the Levante who have always given us problems with their talent, good players, speed and ability to play with three, four, or five at the back. They have beaten Atlético, Real Madrid and Real Sociedad. In their last match they had chances to equalise and then the game would have opened up and it would have been completely different. I'm expecting a tough game.'

As could be expected, Lopetegui was asked about the European Super League, however he stated he did not know much about it: 'Allow me a bit of caution as I don't have all the information. We are focused on an important game and our efforts have been concentrated on getting all our preparation done in three days. When everything clears up, I will be able to give a more concrete opinion on the matter. Hopefully whatever happens is for the good of football but I don't have the information to give a definitive view and I haven't thought about it too much as I'm concentrating on tomorrow.'

Julen preferred to not look beyond day-to-day but he admitted winning in Valencia would be a big step forward: 'The team is really motivated because getting Champions League two years in a row is no easy task. We fight to win every game and achieve our objectives but without looking too far in the future. Winning is easier said than done: to win you need to have perfect preparation and to give your full attention to the next game, which in our case is Levante. We are only focused on winning matches and we have not achieved anything yet.' The coach also spoke about the squad: 'We've just had a tough match and it's been felt. We will make a decision later what to do. We had a few problems in training today but it seems they'll be able to travel. We will decide when we have more concrete information.'

'Winning is easier said than done: to win you need to have perfect preparation and to give your full attention to the next game'

'The only thing we have spoken about is tomorrow's game. There is no room for anything else; we've been working so hard for an entire season, we've played in many competitions and now we're in the final stretch. Every game is more important than the last and that's what we're talking about.'

After 101 games, Lopetegui is only looking forward: 'When you arrive at a Club, what you hope is to be able to do your job, be happy and develop your ideas. That's what we're working on but in the world of football looking far into the future has little purpose. Our focus is on these seven matches: next up is Levante and we are motivated and preparing every detail for the match.' Finishing up, before praising the work of his fitness coaches, he spoke about how the team will face this final stretch of the season: 'Seasons are very long and points very important. Every moment has its nuance and we have been playing every three days. Now we've had a little bit more time, like every other team, but at every moment we've tried to compete at the highest level in spite of the difficulty that this overload of matches has brought. There has been many matches and now there are seven left, but the only one that interests us is Levante.'