Pellegrini
“We’re not very pleased with our performance in this match to be honest. The only thing we can take from this game is the fact that it’s impossible to play good football without the right attitude. There are only minor differences between teams, and we need to maintain our intensity and concentration throughout the entire 90 minutes, and try to apply different techniques if the style of play becomes ineffective.”
“Each player has to take responsibility for their own actions. Normally matches like this allow us to monitor the players individually, then it’s up to them to make the most out of these situations. It’s then the coach’s job to make the right decisions with regards to the players’ performance.”
“It just shows that players who are strong mentally, as well as physically, and who have the motivation to perform to the best of their ability, achieve a lot more success. It makes it very difficult to overcome any rival if the correct level of motivation isn’t there.”
“Teams in lower divisions will always have a stronger determination and motivation than those in the higher leagues. Having won the first leg, I think we assumed qualification was practically guaranteed. However this certainly wasn’t the case and we were lucky to get through. It just shows why football is so popular, as out on the pitch each team is equal, and from that respect, the only good thing we did was qualify.”
“If we hadn’t qualified, it certainly wouldn’t have been unfair. Cacereño played a very good match and created a lot more goal opportunities than we did. I think perhaps in the first leg the difference between the teams was bigger than shown on the score board, and if we analyse both games, it would have been fair if either team qualified.”
Álex Portillo
“We need to remain positive. On a personal level I’m pleased with my debut performance, as it’s always been my dream since I was little to play with the first team. Things didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, but as I said we need to stay positive and focus on the rest of the competition.”
Seba
“We made a lot of mistakes and lost concentration throughout the match. We had a change of attitude in the second half and improved our performance, but still, we weren’t playing our best football. The only thing we can take from this game is that we got through to the next round, which is the most important.”
Duda
“We were focused on getting through the knock-out stage, although we hadn’t planned on doing it like this. We found ourselves up against a completely different team than in the first leg match, and we should have shown why we’re amongst the best, but we didn’t. The most important thing is to remain positive and try to rectify the mistakes we made.”