MADRID, 7 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The RCD Mallorca coach, Javier Aguirre, acknowledged that Real Sociedad was “very superior” in the second half of their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg and that they could have even “even lost the match”, but that they managed to scratch a goalless draw that will make them feel “alive” and with “their enthusiasm intact” for a return match at the Reale Arena where they will “surely” suffer.
“In the second half they were very superior and we could have even lost the game, but it turned out the way it did and we have the hope intact. In football you can never take anything for granted, but they are the favorites, for football, squad and because they are a team of Champions. Standing up to him is not easy, but we will try there,” Aguirre said at a press conference.
The Mexican believes that his first half was “good.” “It was even and maybe there we pushed a lot in their field and then we lacked vigor in the second half for sure, we lacked a bit of belief in ourselves and legs because they subdue you a lot, they bring the ball from one side to the other and make you run a lot,” he explained.
In this sense, he clarified that they are not “a team that slows down the game, that makes it dirty, that hides balls or that fakes injuries.” “We are not like that and it is good that we are not. The conclusion is that playing the 90 minutes like the first half I think it would have been more fun for the people. We are going to go again with the label of victims, but we are going to fight without doubt,” he stressed.
The ‘Vasco’ stressed that both he and Imanol Alguacil know that “you can’t consider anyone ‘dead’.” “Until the referee whistles for the second leg we will be alive. We will not be favorites there either, we will surely suffer, but in football there is nothing written and they do well not to consider us dead and we also do well to feel alive,” he warned.
Now, he has the “job” of preventing the team from thinking too much about the second leg at the end of the month. “From now on we are already involved with Rayo Vallecano, the other thing is forgotten and we are not even going to see images of today’s game, it is a total disconnection. Last year I had 12-14 players of the same level and now I have 19 who allow me to play “We are going to see if we are able to get into the League, we have three weeks that we have to add because we are getting closer and closer to the ‘burning’ and I don’t like it at all,” he remarked.
The Mexican coach recalled the importance of having played at home because “the warmth of the fans pushes and stimulates the player.” “It is not a factor to play better or worse, but it gives the player more energy,” he admitted in this regard.
Finally, Aguirre confirmed that he had to withdraw Abdón Prats because he suffered “a very bad sprain”, although the forward “wanted to continue, but more for self-love”, and hopes that Nemanja Radonjic, winter reinforcement, can improve them up front. “I saw him out of place, but it is difficult in 20 minutes to demonstrate your qualities. He is very fast and hopefully we will see how effective he is,” he said about the Serbian, who had a few minutes against Real Sociedad.
2024-02-06 23:04:57
#Real #superior #lost
