OCAMPOS: "WE'RE DESPERATE TO CONTINUE THIS GOOD RUN THAT WE'RE ON"

Lucas Ocampos was one of the players to be interviewed during our Open Media Day ahead of Sunday's match at the Santiago Bernabéu. Faced with the task of league-leaders Real Madrid, the Argentine revealed that "these are the types of games that no one wants to lose but everyone enjoys playing. Against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, it doesn't get much bigger than that. I can't wait for Sunday and hopefully we'll put on a good performance and continue this good run that we are on. The most important thing is that we approach the game correctly. We will try to be solid defensively and clinical in attack, converting the chances that we get. We really have to trust each other and play as a team. Whether the result goes our way or not, it's important that we show that we can put up a fight against a very strong side and prove that we have improved."

In terms of adapting to Quique Sánchez Flores's philosophy, Ocampos stated that "it's not always easy to adapt to a new coach. You have to get used to new ideas and new tactics very quickly. But now we're at a stage where we have overcome the adaptation phase and now we are familiar with Quique's philosophy and how he wants us to play. We've reached a point where we are looking forward to going to the Bernabéu as it gives us a chance to do something unexpected and change everyone's opinions of us." Finally, our attacker spoke about the dynamic within the squad ahead of Sunday's match. "We are up against a great team. A team that has won the Champions League recently and are one of the best teams in the world. But we can't wait to get stuck in. Winning there would be incredible. I always go into games with a positive mindset, confident that we can get the three points. As a squad, we go to Madrid full of optimism."

Pedrosa: “If you want to win, you have to do focus on doing things well, not on the opposition.”

Meanwhile, Adriá Pedrosa expanded on the good atmosphere among the squad heading into Sunday’s game: “The team is feeling really good. Confidence levels have risen massively. We have a good sense of what the manager wants, and he knows us all very well, so things are improving bit by bit.” Yet the left-back is cautious: “Now we have to spend the rest of the week training and go into the game with our heads held high, but we can’t let things slip. It’s true we’ve picked up seven points from our last three matches, but if we lose then suddenly the pressure rises. Discussing the opponent’, he commented that ‘we all know the quality they have. You have to constantly be alert, otherwise they will capitalise on your mistakes. If you blink, before you know it they can score. You have to try to fight back against the weapons that Madrid have, but without losing sight of the fact that if you want to win, you have to do things well yourself, and not just think about the opposition. That's why we're planning on going out there, taking the ball and showing the quality that we have."

Finally, Loïc Badé touched upon our improvements at the back: "We're doing well. In these four games we have conceded only two goals. We've kept two clean sheets, and we have to keep going. What we need is confidence. What we've achieved is brilliant, but we have to keep working. We're preparing for the match in the best possible way, and we'll see if we can get points, because we know it's very hard to win or just earn a draw. The key is to work together. If we are together from the first to the last minute, I think we will play well. I'm not saying that's going to to win us the game, but the key for me is to be together."