Hard-fought win
“Everything happened during this match. We can forget the first half, where the rival dominated us in every sense and in all areas of the pitch. They showed a lot more determination than we did, but then in the second half the team changed a great deal and we really got into the match. We dominated several phases of the second half and secured a hard-fought victory”.
Learning
“The players are learning things that they’ve not been used to. They are not accustomed to suffering, which at the end of the day will enrich them. To date, at a professional level, if you don’t work hard, it’s very difficult to play”.
Change in the second half
“I was seeing the same image we gave in the last league game against Real Betis, where the rival team went out with much more determination than us. We had planned to get the ball to the other side of the pitch on many occasions, but either we didn’t, or when we did the team was very far behind. In the second half, the team changed. We moved the lines forward a little and the second plays were ours. We had more depth, and from there, coupled with the expulsion of the rival, we could control the game a bit more”.
Last step, the grand final
“It will definitely be difficult. We need to take into account what happened against FC Barcelona and today against RC Celta de Vigo. We suffered and worked very hard, and don’t expect anything less in the final”.
