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“I want to win”

Pablo Machín acknowledges that his Espanyol side has already qualified for the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League, but seeks to consolidate first place in the group.

“I want to win the game”, said the coach. “We always want to win every game, whilst avoiding injuries if possible. Of course, winning the group is important. We are an ambitious group, and if we can qualify from the group as winners, then all the better”, he insists. However, he couldn’t resist joking about the importance of Sunday´s game against Osasuna and made clear his desire to get that first league win at the RCDE Stadium.

He points out that he intends to “field the strongest side possible. We may have already qualified but that doesn’t mean that we won´t do give everything to win the game. We have to make the most of the squad we´ve got, freshness is always important in order to play with intensity, which is what we want and what we are looking for”.

He recognizes, using the players´ first names, that Calleri “is continuing with his recovery. We would have liked it to have been a little quicker although he´s still within the normal time limits”. With regards to Pol Lozano, he says “I´ve only been able to play him once. He did well. He´s certainly got a lot to offer in the future, and it´s just a question of seeing if he´s ready to step up and help us now, and I´m convinced that he can”.

Similarly, he said that Moha, who has travelled with the team, “is a player that can play in various positions in attack, and if I’ve picked him it´s because I think he can do a job for us”.