Sporting de Gijón resumed training this Thursday after the Christmas holidays. On the horizon, the turn of the year and the round of 32 of the Cup, next Tuesday, against Rayo Vallecano. José Ángel, one of the important men in the rojiblanco dressing room, spoke about all this.
Vacations. “It is always good to disconnect. We return with our batteries charged and we hope that the beginning of the year will be good for us and that we will add, above all, victories. We are having good feelings about the game”.
Lightning. “The Cup tie is going to be difficult. We face one of the best teams in the First Division. We play at home and it’s a point in our favour. We will try to pass the tie”.
In love with the rival. “Playing against a First Division team is always motivating. Rayo is one of the teams I like to watch the most. I see it reflected in my time at Eibar. It is a vertical team that attacks quickly with people on the outside. They also tend to win a lot of second play. They don’t rub it as much as other teams. I love how they play. We have to be at a very high level to get through the round”.
The attack. “Raúl de Tomás, Falcao… They have a very clear system and they have been with the coach for some time. They are fast, vertical. There will be very attentive”.
Return to the League “Levante is a team that, a priori, is there to fight for the highest. In the first round, in many phases of the game we were superior. Let’s see if we can beat them on Friday at El Molinón because it will be good to start with a victory”.
Four games at home. “Whenever you play at home, it helps. We all like it, and more so in El Molinón, where we know we have the support of the people. There are four important games -in this month of January-. We hope to get as many points as possible to be fighting with those above.
Points. “The sensations of the game are positive in almost all the games, but the victories are missing, which is what ultimately determines whether we are up or down. We hope that in 2023 we will be one of the teams that win the most and be close to the top”.
The new Year. “To the new year I ask for health, above all. In sports, that we are able to win more games and be fighting with the top people. We have level for it. We are going to leave everything to make this happen.”
Play-off a los Reyes. “I don’t like to talk about those. I think we have the potential to fight with these people. This is how it looked in the first round. We were not inferior to any team. Same with Granada and I think it was more because of one of those silly days that you have throughout the year than because they were much better than us. If we win more games than the rest, surely we will be closer to fighting for everything. I hope so”.
