Marcelino: “The focus of every friendly and training session is to start LaLiga as prepared as possible”

A first preseason friendly of the summer saw Valencia CF continue their preparations for the 2019/20 season, up against a side who had returned from their summer break 12 days before them. After the 0-1 defeat to AS Monaco, coach Marcelino analysed the match and the preseason so far.

The match

“Conclusions are always drawn, but preseason is for trying to strengthen what we’ve done over the past two seasons, see what we need to improve and make the necessary adjustments. From there, fitness has a big say, and the important thing is to be in the best shape possible. The focus of every friendly and every training session is to be as prepared as possible for the start of the LaLiga season.” 

The planning meeting with Peter Lim, Anil Murthy and Mateu Alemany

“It went well. We travelled to Singapore and it was a meeting that had been scheduled beforehand. We also felt that it was a good time to have it, because we were heading off to Switzerland afterwards. The first thing that Peter did was congratulate the coaching staff and the squad for getting into the Champions League and winning the Copa del Rey. We spoke about the past, present and future.”

Maxi Gómez

“Above all, what he offers us are shots in the area. He’s obviously different to the attackers that we had before. He’s similar to Santi Mina in some aspects; he’s a young player, has room to grow and has some very good stats from the past two seasons, even though Celta Vigo have been inconsistent. He’s got goals without taking free kicks or penalties, which is something that you also have to take into account.”