Valverde: Madrid are the favourites

Valencia manager, Ernesto Valverde doesn’t feel that Valencia should be considered the favourites against Real Madrid, despite the latter`s recent run of poor form in La Liga.

• By Tom Conn       Follow @TomConnISF

In his pre-match press conference, Valverde discussed what Los Che must do in their first of three matches against Real Madrid over the next seven days and was coy on the decisions Real Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho has made over the past several weeks.

“Madrid are the favourites. There could be a hypothetical instability, I don’t know. That could be one more problem for them, but it’s just like when a team comes here and the crowd gets impatient. I believe the Santiago Bernabéu will support their team and not us. We’ll try to have a good match and that’s it.

“Would I leave Iker on the bench? Well, I don’t know. I don’t have an answer. I’d have to think about that. It’s dangerous to put yourself in another coach’s shoes, because he is the one that knows the situation. There’s no one who knows the Real Madrid dressing room better than Mourinho at the moment.”

Valverde was then asked about the mood in the locker room and his thoughts on the chants from the crowd, calling for the dismissal of club president, Manuel Llorente.

“What we want and what the players want is what we believe is good for us. The day to be with the team is Sunday. In the end we’re closer to the president and we help to make sure people have a good opinion of him.

“[The fan’s chants] surprised me. I’m not from here, but it surprised me because we were winning and the team was doing well. I don’t want to talk about this or even get involved in the fact the fans voice their opinions, but we’re going to take it lightly.”

Valverde concluded by discussing the importance of forward, Cristiano Ronaldo to the Real Madrid side.

“He’s a player that scored 46 goals in the Liga last year. Of course they’re going to miss him when he’s not there. The match the other day was uncomfortable for Madrid; it also would have been with Cristiano. But they have Benzema, they have Higuaín…”