The session consisted of running, stretching, rounds, various physical exercises and goal shooting practice. Atlético Malagueño’s Pol, Jurado and Fabrice again took part in training this morning. Toulalan and Buonanotte continue with their recovery, the latter working alongside trainer, Hugo Camarero on the pitch. Baptista was absent as he had a routine appointment with Dr. Cougat in Barcelona, to determine the progression of his recove
The team returns to training tomorrow, the last session of the week, getting underway at 10:30 a.m. in La Rosaleda.
Statements by Joaquín
"It’s a part of my past, as I used to live there. These are very special matches for a player, the ‘Andaluz’ derby is something we always look forward to, with both teams determined to win. This will be a really important match for us, following our draw in Bilbao, though it won’t be easy, as Betis are a great team who make it very difficult for their rivals to win.”
“Betis have been playing excellent football for a long time, with some fantastic players. It’s always tough to come up against teams like this. They played very well here last year, and have been performing well ever since. We need to focus on maintaining our great run of results, especially in this home game, and be as strong as we can throughout the match. We can’t afford to let our guard down, because as soon as they start to feel comfortable on the pitch, that’s when they’ll cause us some trouble.”
“We’re not focusing on our past results, we need to concentrate on the hard work ahead of us, and to ensure we’re as strong as we can be for each match. Being in three competitions this year is amazing; and so far everything is going brilliantly. The team has always focused on each match at a time, and we’re confident and extremely motivated.”
“I’m not sure if this is one of my best moments. I’m feeling great right now, and happy with what we’ve achieved so far this season. I’m not looking any further forward than that at the moment. The most important thing is that you feel useful to the team, and do as much as you can as a player during each match. We’re training 200% so we always keep a good rhythm throughout the games, and are aiming to go as far as we can this season for our fans!”
“It’s always a bit strange at the start. As the League season is so long, I think the teams that are the most consistent throughout the year, tend to do the best. As the year goes on, I hope there’s not a lot of difference between the teams at the top of the table, like Barça and Real Madrid, and there’s a real fight between teams in the Champions League and Europa League positions, so we can really play the best football we possible can, and stand up to these two big teams.”