Espanyol vs Rayo Vallecano preview - Gonzalez not focused on Europe

Posted Saturday, May 02, 2015 by PA

Espanyol coach Sergio Gonzalez insists his side are not obsessed with qualifying for Europe.

The Catalans moved to within two points of Malaga - who currently occupy seventh place, the final European spot - after beating Granada 2-1 on Thursday to join Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, Celta Vigo and Rayo Vallecano, their opponents on Sunday, in the fight to unseat Javi Gracia's side.

However, Gonzalez played down the importance of the battle for seventh and said at a press conference: "We won't place any limits on ourselves, we all know we can qualify for Europe, but we're looking at that aim from distance.

"Our only objective is to improve with every game, to evolve and show commitment. [Europe] is something I'm not considering, we are very excited and we just want to enjoy the moment.

"Now we will try and get the three points against Rayo and at the end of the season we'll see if it's enough but we don't look too far into the future, we just want to enjoy the moment."

Espanyol are three points better off than Rayo, who picked up a 1-1 draw with Valencia on Thursday to move on to 42 points for the season and guarantee survival for the fourth year running.

Coach Paco Jemez was delighted to have passed that first milestone, and is now looking towards Europe.

"We've been fighting for this for many matches," he said at a press conference.

"We knew that the game [with Valencia] was very important because it would take us within five points of Malaga with four matches remaining, and our schedule is not too demanding.

"This point is a huge boost for us and now it all depends on what we do against Espanyol. It won't be easy, because there are many teams in the mix, but the distance isn't impossible by any stretch of the imagination."

Paco Jemez was sent off during the Valencia match and will have to watch the Espanyol game from the stands, while defender Jorge Morcillo also misses out through suspension after being sent off against Valencia.

The pair join injured trio Leo Baptistao, Antonio Amaya and Cristian Alvarez in missing the game, while Espanyol's only absentee is Felipe Mattioni.