Fede Valverde spoke to the press after Real Madrid took all three points by beating Olympique Marseille in their opening Champions League match. The Uruguayan midfielder regretted that 'Los Blancos' performance dropped off in the second half.
Fede Valverde acknowledged that, due to their strong first half in their Champions League win over Olympique Marseille, they became overconfident “thinking they had won” after equalizing the deficit, and regretted having to win again while down a man. "We played a great game, it happened to us the other day, that a red card plays a dirty trick on you. We played much better in the first half; in the second, we didn't play as we wanted to, but we came away with the win because the most important thing is to start winning," he said on Movistar+.
"The opposition also affected our ability to play the same way for the full 90 minutes, although it's our fault for getting complacent and thinking that the plays would work out and the game was won when that wasn't the case. We have to maintain our attitude for longer than we did today to win games more easily," he added.
Valverde did not want to comment on the referee Fede or Dani Carvajal's sending off. “We're in the heat of the moment and we can say anything, we have to relax and think calmly. I don't like to talk about referees, I like to focus on the team's work. The whole squad continues to improve, those who have come on have done very well,” he said.
He celebrated Kylian Mbappe's scoring streak, with six goals in five games this season with Real Madrid. “For us, it's a great joy that he continues to score goals and feel comfortable. Our job is to pass him the ball so that he has more options than he already has and more opportunities than he already has,” he acknowledged.