GUDELJ AND NYLAND DISCUSS DRAW AT MALLORCA

Nemanja Gudelj and Nyland gave their thoughts on our goalless draw with Mallorca following Tuesday night's game, reflecting on the efforts by the defensive unit. The Serbian midfielder unpicked why the game unfolded as it did: "We played pretty well for the majority of the match. Not scoring a goal made us panic a bit, so for the final 35 minutes Mallorca dominated. We all know that it's a difficult place to play, so we have to see the point as a positive, and take the progress we made into the Girona match." 
 

The Serbian midfielder assessed the lack of success in front of goal at the start of the second half: ‘It felt like we had more of the ball. The opposition's fans weren't really behind them and we had chances. That was the key. If you score, you dominate the rest of the game’. Finally, he said he felt fine after having to be substituted due to discomfort: ‘Nothing serious, I was hit in the knee in the first half and in the second half, a player fell on top of me as a tried to clear the ball. I was in too much pain to give one hundred percent for the remainder of the game."

"We dominated the first half, but Mallorca put us under pressure after the break"

Likewise, Nyland highlighted the difficulty of winning away against RCD Mallorca: "It was very tough game. Real Madrid suffered here as well. In the first half we were superior, but in the second half Mallorca pressed well. We are happy with the clean sheet but we want to win. The point gives us confidence for the match against Girona, we'll see on Sunday."

The goalkeeper also emphasised the team's good defensive performance: ‘The first half was very good, we fought very well in our penalty area. They have two very tough strikers who are difficult to defend against, but we did a great job. After the sending off they played well, but we were able to contain them." To conclude, he focused the objective on the next home game: "It's always good to help the team to win points. Today I had to be very alert, and that's what happened in the one-on-one with [Vedat] Muriqi. I'll try to play the same way at home on Sunday."