CELTA
Berizzo: "An attack of Asensio, Morata and Bale speaks for itself"
Celta de Vigo visit the Bernabéu tomorrow evening and coach Eduardo Berizzo says the hosts will be just as strong, even without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Celta de Vigo coach Eduardo Berizzo pondered over tomorrow's visit the Bernabéu and expects the hosts will be just as strong as they always are at home, even without Cristiano Ronaldo. The Argentinean also admitted the Celestes' interest in taking Barça's Munir El Haddadi on loan, and gave his views on the outcome of the Europa League draw, in which his side landed in Group G with three clubs with European pedigree - Ajax, Panathinaikos and Standard Liège.
Bernabéu visit: "I always feel that we have a chance to win. That's not to underestimate or be oblivious to the fact that we are visiting an enormous stadium to play against an incredibly strong rival, but our gameplan always centres on winning the match. If you set out to spend the whole game defending, the match eventually becomes seemingly endless and impossible. So we have to base our game on keeping possesion for as longas we can and using the ball intelligently and bravely to get close to the opponents' goal".
7-1 defeat to Real Madrid in March: "We cannot let this game slip out of our hands like we did in the final 25 minutes of that game.If there is one thing I ask of my players is that we don't give the game away. In the March meeting, we competed until minute 65 when we dropped our guard, and that's something which should never happen".
No Cristiano: "They have players who can stand in for him to perfection. They have a lot of hierarchy in their squad. A frontline of Asensio, Morata and Bale speaks for itself".
Marcelo Díaz: "He's suffered a muscular injury - I don't think he'll be out for long, maybe one or two weeks. We'll see who cane come into the team for him because Radoja is also injured. So we have lost two players in the same position to injury just when we need them; we'll see what solution we can come up with".
Iago Aspas: "He took a knock to his hip which stopped him from training normally for the whole week. We'll see how he's feeling tomorrow".
Europa League: "We're in a very strong group: Ajax, Standard and Panathinaikos ae used to being in European competition. We will prepare ourselves well so that we can compete against all of them, enjoy meeting all of them and try to beat them. Our trips are going to be enjoyable because we will be playing in large stadiums against big clubs. Our fans are going to really enjoy what's to come. We were excited about being in this tournament and we are even more so after being picked against such great rivals".
Favourites to progress from Group G: "For their tradition, Ajax and Panathinaikos usually get through the first stages. We are a very competitive side, and we be taking on all of our opponents the same. We won't be an easy side for any of them to play against".
New signings: "In the next few days there will be some news. One or two players could join - possibly a goalkeeper. We have taken our time to make the right signings and we hope to sign well".
Munir: "He can play as a deep-lying forward. He's a versatile player and can play in in midfield going forward, or in any of the attacking positions. I must be respectful here because Munir is currently a player from another club - where he usually features in the squad lists. Elaborating too much about him would be a lack of respect. He's a very god player - like Valbuena, Katai and Praet".
Pape Cheikh: "No one will be joining Leganés. He's part of our squad and will continue to be so".