With Rubén Baraja and Carlos Marchena at the helm of Valencia CF, VCF Media talks to a former teammate of theirs, Fabio Aurelio, who also looks at this Sunday's match against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

Back home

For me, being in Valencia is like coming home, it's always a time for sharing good memories and meeting up with good friends. I was fortunate enough to take part in some very important moments in the history of the club and the team and the memories are great.

  Baraja and Marchena

My former teammates Baraja and Marchena are now leading the team, in a situation that we know is not the best, but hopefully they can get out of the situation the team are in and increase the affection that the fans have for them for what they did on the pitch even more for what they give off the pitch. I'm wishing all the best to Baraja, Marchena and the club.

Baraja and Marchena look very excited, motivated by the opportunity and happy to return home. They know that they have a tough challenge ahead of them, but they have experience, they know what it is like to go through moments like this on the pitch and that will help them to transmit their ideas to the players. There is a young squad that see in Baraja and Marchena the experience and strength to help them in a difficult situation like they are in right now.

They are role models and very respected by the fans, and that ends up helping the fans to get behind the team more. They need to be all together, pushing hard. You could see the atmosphere at Mestalla in the last game when Pipo called on the fans and they responded, which was also transmitted to the attitude of the players on the pitch and helped them to win against Real Sociedad.

Reaction

It's a tough time. The way we played last weekend maybe wasn't pretty, but it's what we had to do to get the three points, which is what we have to do every game. They have FC Barcelona ahead of them now, which will be hard, although they come into it with two negative results, they are fighting for LaLiga and also for the Copa del Rey. It will be a very difficult game, but hopefully the team will be like we saw against Real Sociedad, fighting for every ball, giving their all to see if we can pick up important points.

The fans

We have to keep believing. Valencia CF are not used to fighting relegation, but the result the other day against a team that is up there at the top helps and gives confidence. Valencia CF have a young squad and it's important that the fans help, because we need to all stick together.

Defence

 Defensive solidity is very important, and it helps so that those little details like against Athletic Club or Getafe don't happen -those 3 or 4 more points that you get are the ones that end up changing the situation in the standings.

 Mestalla

We know it's a very hard situation, there's no need to hide it. The players want to get out of the situation and we need everyone. Baraja is right to call on the fans because they are the ones who give the team the extra strength they need.


Camp Nou

Valencia CF have to reach their objectives and taking points off Barça would be very important for the team. Barça are first in LaLiga with an important advantage, but we will see how the result in the Copa del Rey affects them. Valencia CF have to be prepared to take advantage of that, arrive with confidence and have a good game.

It's a pitch that favours FC Barcelona's possession game and the defensive and tactical side is very important. I remember when we won 2-4 there, when I was able to score the third goal to make it 1-3 and give us peace of mind. The ball got caught up in my feet and the only solution was to pull it back and dribble like that. Those are good memories.

I think Sunday's game will be similar. We will have to be well organised defensively and try to take advantage of the spaces on the counter, as we did against Real Sociedad with Samu Lino.