Joyless victory
“There’s not been any elation today. There’s personal satisfaction, as it was a very difficult match and each player should be proud of themselves individually and of their teammates. It was a match in which we had to be professional and show character. I think we demonstrated this against a highly demanding, quality rival, who generates a lot of football, shows reactions from what they did with their previous coach, and who came from a magnificent run. Today we saw a committed Málaga, with a stamp of identity, and above all, character. That makes me feel very proud of the players. It was tough to play today, it would have been easy to step aside, yet none of the players who were in action the other day, who may have been fatigued, stepped to one side. They wanted to be there. Today we knew we were going to listen to what we deserve. It’s not a pleasant victory, it’s not any use to us. It serves to show football can be like that. I believe we deserved victory many times before, or at least we deserved to score, to go in front, experience other circumstances… and today, when it cannot help us, it happens”.
Responsibility
“I am the one who directs them, if we haven’t done enough, I have the same amount of guilt as anyone from the beginning of the season. The coaches, players, the newly-arrived players… absolutely everyone has their share of guilt”.
Motivation - pride
“Obviously, I don’t enjoy the profession during these times. Why not? Because you always have to maintain an important motivation, which is to fight for an objective. We have set ourselves the task of fighting for dignity and for the jersey we wear. We are already focusing on the next matches, I already have the videos and report on Betis. This is what I have to try to hold on to, to enjoy my profession, try and make a difficult match for Betis and compete, which is what we’ve been doing all year. Of course, I love my profession, despite these vicissitudes, and always try to enjoy what I do, even though the circumstances are irregular at times”.
Mature fans
“It’s logical, we had 17 points, it’s a numbers disaster. The fact that fans waited until today shows maturity. Until now, there were some chants, but they always got involved in the game. They knew we needed them on many occasions, and they’ve always been there. Unfortunately, we haven’t brought them any joy. We know we have great fans, and if things had gone a little better they would have enjoyed it more, and the team would have been more powerful. However, it wasn’t to be”.
