Real Madrid star admits to trouble sleeping following recent performance

There are few players in the Real Madrid squad who sweat for the club as much as Fede Valverde, and when things go wrong he has admitted it has a major impact on him. The 26-year-old is one of the leaders in the side these days, but admits he is still learning to deal with mental pressure.

Although it is so often expressed negatively, Valverde welcomed the setbacks because they helped him improve.

“The San Mames game helped me a lot. I am To improve, to learn, so that such a mistake does not happen again. It will be a team that will put us in a lot of trouble and that will put men on top of us, but we have very fast and skilled people. We are players made for these matches,” Valverde told the press in Bergamo ahead of their Champions League match against Atalanta.

Valverde also admitted throwing and turning after giving the ball away to Gorka Guruzeta's winner during Athletic Club's 2-1 win over Los Blancos last week.

“Sometimes matches don't go the way I want… We would all like to put in a 10 performance every match, and in San Mames I made a mistake that cost us the match, something that has never happened to me in my entire life. career. It was hard to sleep that night, but those things are part of football. The most important thing is to move forward and show that I can be an example as one of the captains.”

The Uruguayan was one of the players who tried to keep things under control in the Los Blancos engine room this season. He was asked if Real Madrid struggle to be compact because of the number of attackers they play with. Kylian Mbappe's name was not mentioned, but Carlo Ancelotti has used three out-and-out attackers overall this season, compared to two last time out.

“The line-ups are the responsibility of the coach. He is the person who picks the team. It's up to us to do our best, whatever the formation may be. To contribute our grain of sand. As a midfielder I like to play with attackers who carry the ball a lot forward and less back. We midfielders want them to look at the opponent's goal and less at the defense.”