The Malaguista coach spoke to the assembled media at the Juan Cortés press room at La Rosaleda. Ahead of this week’s double fixture, José Alberto talks about the Blue and White infirmary: “It’s as though the midfield position is cursed. Every member of the team that puts on a good performance there sustains injury. We have eight casualties which of course limits the rotations. We want to go as far as possible in the Cup.” He also talked about his intention to look after the squad: “We’ll try to select a competitive line-up and share the load as much as we can. We must look after the players for Saturday’s game, it’s going to be tight,” he added.

The Asturian coach says of the Cup rival: “They are a professional team that could easily be competing in the Second Division. They have a squad with experience in First and Second, we know practically all their players. We look more towards ourselves than our rival, but we’re aware of the difficulties,” he stated.

In regard to the opportunities that come about during a week with two commitments, the coach commented: “It provides an opportunity for people who have had fewer minutes. Whenever there’s a match, our ambition is to win. For the players, every time they put on the Málaga shirt, their goal is to win.”

In terms of the team’s current situation, with the presence of several homegrown Blue and White players, José Alberto commented: “This is the work of The Academy. It all stems from the many lower team coaches and the coordination of the young players. There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, the reward is for everyone working with the young players,” he added.