Rival – SD Huesca
“We’ve never beaten them? Well, records are meant to be broken. I was able to watch them live against Granada away. Since Antonio Hidalgo's arrival, they’ve become a very resilient team, defensively solid and able to adapt to the situation and their squad. They’ve had a tough summer. They managed a hard-fought win from a set piece against Elche. They are one of the only teams, along with Zaragoza, to have won three matches. Offensively solid, they have speed and know how to find space. Facing teams like Granada, Deportivo, and Elche is always a challenge. The other day they had more possession until they were reduced to 10 men. It will be a very tough game, like all of them, against a team that operates in certain ways that we still need to learn from.”
Recapturing the feeling from the last match at La Rosaleda
“We need to regain the energy and joy we had when we were down to 10 men against Albacete. They've scored three goals from corners, as well as from free kicks and penalties. They have good set-piece takers and potential, but we need to wear them down. Hopefully, they play with a back three, but they’ve switched formations before. We need to have energy; against Granada, they controlled the pace. We have dynamic players upfront, so we need to ensure the ball gets to them in the best possible conditions and be more dynamic ourselves. They’ll try to wear us down, so we need to stay alert. Set pieces are crucial, but we also need to know how to react when we lose the ball. We’re solid on set pieces and can hurt them there.”
The value of every point
“You have to value how points are earned. The other day, the rival was closer to victory. We assess what we need to improve on and our strengths; the team has a good mentality and is always in the game. This league is very tough, every point and every win is like gold, and we need to understand that. Keeping our feet on the ground, our goal is to reach 50 points. We still need 44, and then we can aim higher. This will be defined by our day-to-day work. We've faced four tough opponents, and now we’re entering a difficult stretch starting on Saturday, so we need to conserve our strength. The day-to-day grind and adapting to the demands of the league will define us. Learning is exhausting, and we take it one day at a time.”
Antonio Hidalgo
“He knows exactly what he wants from his teams and gets the most out of the resources he has, the players and the club he's at. He likes to have possession, understands that the team he’s with needs points, and is growing through discipline. He’s a well-loved figure here, remembered for leading us to promotion. Let's welcome him back because he’s one of us, a true Malaguista.”
