Gabi eyes top four finish

Atletico Madrid midfielder Gabi said the club’s ambition for the season is to finish in the La Liga top four.

The Vicente Calderon side are undefeated since Diego Simeone was appointed as coach and are currently seventh in La Liga, only two points adrift of fourth-placed Levante.

The 28-year-old is hopeful of Champions League qualification and rues dropping points in the 0-0 draw against Valencia last weekend.

“Our goal is to be in the top four,” Gabi told the Atletico website.

“On Sunday we had a chance to be up there and, although we played a great game, we did not get the result.”

Atletico take on Racing Santander on Saturday and the ex-Real Zaragoza man feels that his side can get three points if they continue their form of late.

“The key to winning against Racing will be believing in ourselves. If the team continues to work with the aggressiveness that we have been showing and with solidarity, I do not think we will have many problems,” he said.

Atletico are yet to concede a goal under Simeone, either, and Gabi believes that a strong defensive outlook will help the team to succeed.

“That is the basis of our success,” the midfielder said.

“If we can reduce the number of opponents’ goals, we have a lot of quality up front and we will score goals.”

“If we defend well we will continue to grow, as in attack we will not have problems with the players we have.”