Celades: "We have a very big and exciting challenge ahead against Chelsea"

Albert Celades spoke to the media on Monday in his pre-match press conference, on the eve of Valencia CF's Champions League opener against Chelsea.

Chelsea FC
"We see them as a great team, full of great individuals and a fantastic collective. We have a very big and exciting challenge ahead: The Champions League is starting and Chelsea are a side who will give us a lot of difficulties. They started out the season with a formation that they changed in their last game against Wolves, but we know how great a side Chelsea are."

No wins to date at Stamford Bridge
"We're going to be playing a great side with magnificent players. Previous results are part of the past, and we are going to try to face the game aware of the difficulty Chelsea will present."

Team morale
"Morale is good. On Tuesday the best club competition in the world gets underway, and that is sure to be sufficient motivation for everybody to be focusing on this game. All of the players want to play and be in a situation like this, playing at a stadium like this. Nobody wants to miss out on it and that's the most important thing."

Limited training time
"We don't have much time in which to work and incorporate some of the ideas that we would like, but the team have been doing things very well and we have to try to make the most of that. The group are used to doing things at a very high level of performance. We have a game every three days up until the next international break. It's going to be a process and we'll see how long it takes."

The current situation for the players and coach
"We all need to look to the future and try to look for what is best for the team and the club. The best way to do that is to focus on the reality of the situation. We have our first Champions League game coming up, then another league game, and anything outside of that doesn't help us to keep competing and facing games in the best way possible."

"I'm the coach here and I take the decisions. The players have to adapt to the coach, just like I have to adapt to them. I have experience of situations like that which they are going through, and it isn't ideal, but I'm convinced that we will get through it well."