Albert Celades spoke after Valencia CF’s win over Osasuna to give his verdict on the Matchday 30 encounter.

The result

“I don’t think that this was a ‘match ball’, but with the points that remain, there is less of a margin all the time. I would give a lot of importance to the morale factor. We needed to win and to keep a clean sheet. I think that was something for which we’d been looking for a while. We managed to not concede, win 2-0 -which is always a good result- and we are satisfied with our efforts and the victory and the boost that it provides.”

The VAR decisions

“I haven’t seen the Guedes one. I did see the incident with Rodrigo and have been shown a screenshot. It’s true that we had two situations that were very similar in the first half. They didn’t take much time to decide. After the first, we thought the same thing would happen with the second, because it’s a story that has been repeated many times. In the end, it counted. I talked about the situation yesterday. I don’t think that there is much more to say. As for the question about the first half, I think that we had a very good one, and could have gone into the break with more goals.”

A dominant first period

“We had a very good first half, in which we could have had a larger lead. We lacked that final ball. In the second half we struggled more; Osasuna improved and maybe made the period drag on. You don’t want the game to get away from you, and we had spoken amongst ourselves about handling the final minutes. I think that we did it well today.”

Two different halves

“We played much better in the first half than in the second. However, in the second we wanted to avoid losing the ball, which would lead to counterattacks. We didn’t rush with our passing and we wanted to avoid our opponents attacking quickly. There weren’t as many chances in the second half as in the first, but I’m satisfied with the game and with the result.”

Guedes’ substitution

“He’s playing consistently. He’s featured in all three games, but there are many matches in a row, a lot of heat and so much exertion. We want to use players wisely. The important thing is that he goes out there with the right attitude. If he is annoyed about the substitution, it’s no problem.”

Ferran Torres

“We have to choose the best players for each game. In the context that we are in, in which substitutions are so important, those who start are just as important as those who come on later.”

Valencia CF and VAR

“I give my opinion, and I don’t fear reprisals for talking about VAR. Yesterday I said that it is very frustrating to see Rodrigo having his goals ruled out and VAR taking points away. I don’t want to believe, nor do I believe, that we are paying for the complaint about the RFEF through refereeing decisions and VAR.”