Lopetegui praises Bale, Ceballos and explains Real Madrid’s pressing

Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui was satisfied with the performance of his men after Madrid’s 2-0 win against Getafe. First off, he wanted to praise Gareth Bale, who will be the leader of this offense all season long.

“I liked the team’s performance in general and Bale had a very good match. He offers lots of different things, like the other players. We must continue working, the team always comes before individual talent and that goes for Bale too,” said Lopetegui.

The coach decided to start Dani Ceballos in the midfield and the young player delivered and completed a solid performance.

“He put in a very worthy display. He’s got real character, works hard and is a fine footballer. We’re happy because he put in a worthy performance and he’ll have his part to play,” he added.

Real Madrid have been pressing with a lot of intensity ever since Lopetegui took over and the Spanish coach was asked about this matter.

“It can help us at certain times although each game is different. We want to win back the ball as soon as possible and if we can’t, we have to get back in. That helps us run less and better. Working for each other is something we’re looking to focus on because we believe that it’s the only way for us to improve as a team. If we bring together our collective talent and hard work we’ll become a better side, but we’ve still got a lot of things that we can improve on and continue to work on,” explained Lopetegui.

Finally, he was asked about the goalkeepers. This time Navas was the one starting but reports suggest that it won’t be long before Thibaut Courtois gets the job.

“We’ll be running with three goalkeepers in the squad. We’re delighted with the competition for the goalkeeper’s jersey. It’s marvelous and I don’t see it as a problem, but rather see it as us having several options. We’ll make decisions as the season progresses. We’re really happy with the performance levels of our goalkeepers,” concluded Lopetegui without revealing his starter.