The sign announcing the Real Sociedad training center is getting a little faded each year, but it is a club in constant progress and with impeccable facilities that lies behind it. The San Sebastián team is 6th in La Liga, still involved in the Copa del Rey (semi-final against Mallorca) and in the Champions League (round of 16 against Paris-SG). In what conditions ? Far from being those dreamed of.
On the list of forfeited or uncertain players is half of its squad, between Hamari Traoré (Mali) and Takefusa Kubo (Japan) still in the selection, the injuries of Carlos Fernandez, Aihen Muñoz (knee), Kieran Tierney (thigh) and Aritz Elustondo (foot), and the various genes affecting Mikel Merino, Robin Le Normand, Arsen Zakharyan and Urko Gonzalez de Zarate. At the end of his medical update on Friday, Imanol Alguacil even added that he had to forget some.
“We are competing against Formula 1 cars and we perhaps have Formula 3 chassis”
Imanol Aguacil, trainer of the Royal Society
“If we take all that away, I remain optimistic, as always, because a month of February is coming as we would have liked,” smiled the Real Sociedad coach, on the eve of the trip to Girona, for a shock against the 2nd in Liga (9 p.m.). We don’t have all the players in their best form, but this team knows not to lament or look back. She had already shown it after the news of David Silva’s injury (the 2010 world champion retired last summer after a serious left knee injury). »
Imanol Aguacil, Real Sociedad coach. (IR Hipolito/AFP7/Presse Sports)
Most of those absent should be back for the double confrontation against the Parisians (February 14 and March 5). But this will be in the middle of a busy schedule, with nine matches in thirty-two days for the Basques. “We are competing against Formula 1 cars and we perhaps have Formula 3 chassis,” notes Alguacil. It’s normal for the mechanics to fail at certain times. But this week without a match was a breath of fresh air. »
In this context, doesn’t going to Girona, where only Real Madrid have won this season (3-0, September 30), scare him? “Ask Michel (the coach of the Catalan club) if it won’t be hard for them…” he replies straight away. As he would have done if PSG had shown up.
