SAMPAOLI: "WE DIDN'T SUFFER AT THE BACK, BUT WE DIDN'T CONTROL THE GAME"

Jorge Sampaoli reflected positively on the point gained against Rayo in Vallecas: "When we were 1-0 up, it was inevitable that our opponent would press and put more pressure on us. We played this game only a few days after our last match and we weren't able to call upon several players owing to injury, and Rakitic's illness meant we weren't able to play another central midfielder. The team had to make do with what we had, we stayed strong, drew a game at a tricky ground and didn't suffer much in our own half, but we weren't able to control the game. I don't just value the point, but also the effort of the players who had to play out of position because other players weren't available."

The Argentine lamented the number of injuries: "The idea is that everyone is ready to help out in what is a difficult period for us. This means that each player can play in any position and at any time. We only had one centre-back, one central midfielder, and we had to play Acuña and Montiel in central positions because there weren't other options."

Regarding the challenge by Lejeune on Óliver, Sampaoli said "the strange thing is that VAR was not used to look at such a violent challenge, but this if football."

Finally, he spoke about our next game on Thursday: "We have got to go out and give our everything, even though we won't have much time for recuperation. Each week we have key players missing and we have got to recover effectively so that we are ready for a challenge at a touch stadium. I am sure that it will be difficult for us to get through this challenge".