Koke: "We need the fans giving 200% and the players on the pitch too" | OneFootball

FOURTH TIME WITHOUT 72 HOURS BETWEEN MATCHES

“No one has spoken to me and no one has talked to us. It hasn’t happened, and hopefully we can communicate so that these kinds of things don’t happen again.”

CALL TO THE FANS

“Whenever I’ve experienced knockout rounds where we’ve had that player-fan connection, we’ve had magical and spectacular nights. Hopefully tomorrow we can have one of those nights, that we have that connection with our people, that from our side, we run and press for every ball. Obviously, also to score goals, like on the day against Barcelona or Inter, when we ended up winning in the last minute. We need the fans at 200% and the players as well.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH A MATCH LIKE TOMORROW’S?

“We had a great first half the other day, then they improved a lot, scored from a set piece and right after that, they tied. We managed to make it 2-3, we recovered, and then they had nothing to lose, attacked, and tied us again. We have to have that decisiveness we always talk about. Offensively, which is often demanded of us, we are having it. We also need it defensively. When we concede few goals, we can fight for big things. We all have to improve that decisiveness, it’s one of our keys and it’s what has allowed us to fight for big things.”

IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING THE WINNING STREAK

“Winning always gives you an extra boost to stay motivated and in that dynamic. The coach always says that winning brings more winning and hopefully Saturday’s victory gives us the strength to win tomorrow’s match.”

TIGHTER SCHEDULE, WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?

“In the end, we have bigger squads, more rotations, and many times the level of the players, with so many matches, drops. It’s impossible to play 60 matches at 100%, because we just can’t. There have to be more rotations and I don’t know to what extent we players are going to be in optimal physical and mental condition. Until there are meetings and we say ‘enough’, there will continue to be matches with less than 72 hours between them. We’ll all have to come together to make a decision so it doesn’t happen again.”

BRUGGE, ALWAYS A TOUGH ‘CINDERELLA’

“No, not at all. Brugge’s level at their stadium is incredible, only Arsenal has beaten them there. They play well, attack the spaces, have mobility in midfield, play the ball well… They are a very tough opponent, as they were in Brugge, and we have to give 200% to win this match. As for being favorites, it’s football and we have to give our best to get through the round.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.