Bordalás: “We have to focus on Tuesday and, above all, the final"

Coach José Bordalás gave his verdict on Valencia CF’s 1-2 loss to Osasuna on Matchday 32 of the LaLiga season.  

How do the team go into the final after this defeat? 

The team started well. The first few minutes were good, but we faded. Osasuna prevailed on the second balls.

We needed to circulate the ball faster. The team grew as the game went on. In the second half, we conceded the penalty that made it 0-1.

 Before that, there was a penalty that was incomprehensibly not called. It seems that VAR does not work in favour of Valencia CF.

It happened to us in Bilbao, in Vallecas and today we had another very clear penalty. There was a possible second card for Lucas Torró that wasn’t shown either. 

Today there were nine fouls by us, and 25 by the opponents; I remind you of this so that later we are not accused of anything. When it happens the other way around, people talk about ‘the other football’ or ‘Bordalás’ teams’. This is football.

From when it was 0-1 onwards, the team kept trying and we found ourselves 0-2 down off a shot by Budimir that was avoidable, just like the first. The second goal hurt us. We kept trying and pulled a goal back.

 There were players who were hanging on in terms of fitness at the end. We haven’t got time for regret. We are a week away from a big event and we have to focus on Tuesday's game -and especially Saturday's. 

How is Guedes? There is one week left before the final. Could this bad streak hinder you? 

We are already thinking about the games on Tuesday and Saturday. We aren’t thinking about the streak without a win.

We were hoping for a win to cut the points gap to the top teams. Today we had to rest players who had been playing a lot or who had problems. 

Thierry had played two games in a row after his injury and we considered that we had to rest him so as not to take risks.

We may have been hindered by the absences, but they were forced upon us. We have to think about the final and go into it in the best condition.

Guedes received a knock and twisted his cervical area; he had a contracture and hopefully, it's nothing. 

Does it seem normal to you that involuntary handballs are called as penalties? 

We are seeing incomprehensible things. We see hands that have been much further away from the body that have not been blown for, and others that have been. 

What we are clear about is that we must be very careful and that we should put our hands behind our backs, because what happened today might happen.

I am not going to enter into the debate, but the criteria is very disparate. We all had high hopes for the technology, but when it hurts you, we don't like it so much. More than the handball, what I didn't like was the penalty on Bryan Gil that should have been called. 

With this defeat, do you see the chance of European qualification via the league as having been lost? Also, with the message of not taking risks, did you not consider taking off Guedes? 

We had already used up all of our substitutions. His discomfort grew, and that is why we decided not to take him off. Whether we say goodbye to Europe through the league or not, isn’t something that we are thinking about. We are focusing on the commitments that we have.

Right now, we don't think about it. It is clear that we are further away and we have lost a great opportunity -and even Osasuna have moved above us. 

But this is not the time to make a great analysis of things, but rather to focus on the fact that on Tuesday we have a game against Villarreal and the final next Saturday. We have to try to win the cup, with the help of our fans. 

How do you rate Racic and Costa’s performances? Does the final become more important now? 

The final is a final, no matter what happens today. We give it 100% importance. Regardless of what we achieve in LaLiga, the final is coming up and we have to face it with the highest level of attention and ambition. 

It is not easy to play a final and we have to fight for the trophy. The less frequently used players have been participating little for a while. They tried;  when the team don’t win, we can analyse it as being that the performance was lower than expected, but we have to analyse the collective. We have conceded goals from avoidable actions and the result could have been different. 

Would you have liked the game against Villarreal CF to have been postponed? 

Yes. Right now, facing that game when you are going to play for a trophy does not make much sense. But it's not a question of complaining, but of dealing with it and preparing as best we can for both Tuesday's game and the final.

It doesn't make sense to lament it, because Tuesday's match will be played and we have to face it in the best way. 

We are trying to risk as little as possible, but it was inevitable that some players have not played because we considered that it was better to reserve them, as was the case with Alderete or Thierry. 

The team have conceded two goals for the first time since February. Do you reaffirm your idea of playing with three central defenders? 

When I make decisions it's because I know my squad better than anyone and I try to balance the team. Today we played with a line of four. The goals were avoidable.

Details deprived us of a better result. But it is not a question of the formation, but that the team have a good performance in defence and attack -that we have balance. 

Did you imagine that the team would be in this position in the table when you arrived? 

The day-to-day results in the competition were going to decide our chances in LaLiga. This is a long-distance race. We are in the final stretch and each team is where it should be.

 There have been ups and downs, and we are where we should be. I would have liked to have been as high up as possible, but now we are where we are. There is still a long way left and we are going to fight to be as high up as possible.