Marchena Optimistic Valencia Will Qualify For Champions League

Valencia’s hopes of making a return to the Champions League suffered another blow at the weekend when they could only draw 1-1 at home to Recreativo Huelva, a result which now leaves them five points adrift of the Primera Division top four.

Despite their continuous crises on and off the pitch, stalwart centre-back Carlos Marchena is confident that the team can recover in the remaining 11 rounds of the season to secure a berth in Europe’s blue-ribbon tournament.

“The Champions League is still within reach for us. Nothing is impossible and there are a lot of games to play for and the points difference isn’t that big,” he was quoted as saying by Marca.

“Of course, there are a group of other teams who are all chasing the same thing as we are. But we cannot give up and we must try with all our might [to qualify].

“There have been games where we have missed our chances to win, but if we continue pushing, we will win again eventually.”

Marchena is still boiling at the referee’s decision to send him off last Saturday against Recre but he has declined to comment any further, to avoid exacerbating the matter.

“I clearly touched the ball when I made the challenge, but the referee thought otherwise,” he explained. “But the best thing is to not say anything because it will only harm me. But I am still feeling annoyed.”

The double booking will see the 29-year-old captain miss Valencia’s clash at Racing Santander this weekend. Los Che have not won once in their last six Liga outings.

KS Leong, Goal.com