Levante coach not focusing on Real Madrid turmoil ahead of La Liga clash: ‘They’re still very strong’ | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s new coach Alvaro Arbeloa will be under enormous pressure as the team takes on Levante tomorrow, a game that will see the return of Kylian Mbappe to the starting eleven.

After getting knocked out by Albacete in the Copa Del Rey in his first game in charge of the club, the onus will be on Arbeloa to guide the team back to winning ways.

In Levante, though, Real Madrid will face a gritty opponent who are more than aware of Los Blancos‘ troubles right now.

Speaking ahead of the game, Levante manager Luis Castro offered his thoughts on Real Madrid’s problems and his own team’s chances.

What Luis Castro said ahead of Real Madrid match

Addressing the press, Castro didn’t seem too interested in talking about Real Madrid right now.

“It’s not a situation I pay much attention to. I have a lot of work to do here, and I’m not very worried about what happens to Real Madrid. We’re facing a good team, and we’re going to play our game,” he said.

The Levante coach added that there is no good time to face Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, ignoring suggestions that Los Blancos may struggle due to the ongoing crisis.

“I think that now, sooner or later, they’re always a good team. They have a lot of quality, I don’t think much will change, they’ll want to win, and they’ll give 100%, just like us,” he said.

Luis Castro added that Real Madrid will not lack any quality and will remain very strong, despite the current events.

“I think matches against Real Madrid and other teams come when they’re meant to come. I don’t dwell on whether it’s better or worse. If it’s now, it’s now. I don’t think they lack quality; they’ve lost, which is bad for them, but they’re still very strong.

Can Arbeloa turn things around at Real Madrid? (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

“You only have to look at their players and the club they are, but now or later, it’s all the same to us. We have to focus on ourselves,” he added.

Levante lost 4-1 to Real Madrid when these two teams faced each other during the first half of the season. Castro confirmed that his team is going ahead with a different gameplan this time.

“We haven’t looked at the 1-4 because we’re doing things differently, and we need to change what we do more.

“We’ve looked more at Real Madrid ‘s recent matches; we need to focus on the current Real Madrid because teams change and we’re more concentrated on ourselves, on doing what we need to do to become stronger,” he said.

“We have information on the Real Madrid players and what they usually do, because that makes the game one way or another, and also how Arbeloa likes to play,” he added.

Luis Castro went on to offer an update on his team, confirming that Levante’s new signing, Ugo Raghouber, will be available for this clash.

“He’s been training normally. On the first day, he had medical tests and stress tests, but yesterday and today, he’s been training at 100% and is ready to play,” he said.

The Levante coach also pointed out the return of Etta Eyong, one of La Liga’s finest attackers this season.

“I’d like to have many problems like this. All three strikers have been very good, and now Etta is here. If you can give me more problems like this, I’ll be very happy,” he said.

Finally, Castro confirmed that Diego Pampin and Matias Moreno will miss the clash as they are not fit enough to feature.

“Matias and Arriaga are more tired than usual. Mati is more likely to miss the game, and we’ll wait a bit with Arriaga. We’ve changed our training methodology a little, which is normal,” he stated.

Source: Mundo Deportivo