Baraja: “This team can rise above any difficulty"

The Valencia CF coach looks ahead to the game against Rayo Vallecano
Valencia CF take on Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga on Sunday evening, and ahead of the game coach Rúben Baraja spoke to the media in his pre-match press conference.

Absentees and returnees

"Gayà is in the squad. He has had a good feeling and we have decided to include him. Fran and Jesús are not there. José is fine, he is our captain, he could have minutes"

Picking ourselves back up

"It is a scenario that we have not experienced all season, and when you have this type of situation you have to try to react. The best place to do it is at home with our fans. I'm sure that the game is going to be difficult, but that is what we have in mind. This team have shown that they can rise above any difficulty"

Left-back  

“I don't usually give out information about what we are going to do before the game. José is fine, he feels good and I want him to come and be part of the squad, as he is our captain. He may or may not get playing time. We will see”.

Focused on Rayo

"We are focusing on trying to play a game in which the more things we do well, the closer we will be to taking the three points. There are twelve points remaining and our intention is to earn as many as possible. Everything revolves around concentrating on tomorrow's game and changing the dynamic."

Persisting

"We consider that it is something that can happen during a season. Things happened in the Betis game that haven't been happening lately; the second goal was a rebound when we were playing at our best and they made it 1-2. We have already analysed the Barcelona game and in an even game like against Alavés, if you don't finish your chances and they have that chance from the corner, that gives them the three points. This team have always tried to compete to the best of our ability and tomorrow we can do that again."

Sanctions for racism

We complied with the sanction that we were forced to comply with and it affected us, it influenced us in the final part of the season in which we had a lot at stake. And now similar things are happening where the criteria is different. I don't think we need to say much more. The club has made an assessment of this situation and I think it's clear that there are different criteria for the same situation.

Peter Federico

"He has a great will to improve and his development is typical of the process, of knowing what we want, and of his attitude. He gives us things, he works hard, he plays hard and perhaps he is lacking a little bit of luck in what is one of his best virtues, his shooting. He is a player who has given us things and after the season all the relevant evaluations will be made."

Not conceding

"We have to maintain our fundamental principles. One of those is not conceding, as whenever the opponents don't score against you, you have the possibility of taking points. We have to bring that back against a very good team. They have a very good counterattack, players who finish well... we have to have a game in which we concentrate on doing things in the best way and pick ourselves from this bad run that we have gone through in the competition."