The details of a great final

“You work for an entire season, with many training sessions, matches and emotions. That work has helped us compete in this first final, this is a final. The best is yet to come, and we have to temper our spirits, manage it well and be ourselves. Small details can make the difference for or against, in a very close tie and each team has their own idea. It’s a two-legged tie and we have to be aware that the team that is more focused and makes no mistakes will be the most prepared and the one that will take it.”

Every minute counts

“It’s a very important moment to manage the performances of the last few games. In the last breath, the last minutes, physical and mental exhaustion sets in, the changes and effectiveness are important, but the players who are going to provide solutions are more important. In these profiles of matches at the end of the season, it’s all or nothing, in every minute we have to maintain very high concentration and the strengths that we are working on have to emerge.”

Here’s to victory at Abanca Balaídos

“You have to be on alert, these qualifiers are always very tight and there are no favourites. If they put that sign on you, you are giving the enemy an advantage. We have equal opportunities in all the qualifying rounds, 50/50. The fans have been at La Rosaleda throughout the season with around 20,000 people. We have to be strong and go with the idea of winning because we are Málaga. We have to adjust the small details at the individual level because they will benefit the collective.”

Minimise a great rival

“The best thing about this rival is that we know that they won’t change their structure, which is very clear. They have a great deal of offensive potential, scoring more than two goals per game at home. They have a structure of three, they know how to attack and defend in 5-4-1, mobile wingers and strong upfront. But they have their weaknesses, we don't expect any surprises, just the profile of players who come down from the first team. We have focused on strengthening where we want to do damage, limiting their strengths and playing what we want.”

Sole objective: winning

“We must be ourselves, we’ve come from two games with five goals. And that is the dynamic that we want to convey. There’s a lot of data that shows we are more offensive than what is said. Our strength is in defence and we have a good balance of transition situations. Now we are looking at the offensive strengths, the players are going to appear. We are going with the idea of ​​winning, we are one of the teams with the fewest defeats in the two groups. But we want to get the victory for the second leg, we are very strong with our people. It's 180 minutes that could be 30 more, we know we can hurt them.”

For the fans

“The only thing we can do is honour them with the effort they’ve made, which is impossible. The thousand brave fans who are going to come and cheer us on are a motivation for the players. People are going to be pushing in Málaga, they are going to come together…I get excited as it’s something amazing. We have a very beautiful opportunity, and we have to fight to honour those people.”

The team is focused on the match

“They’re looking good. I see them focused, concentrated and aware of the responsibility they have. We have to manage the emotions very well and focus on playing football, on what we have worked on, on improvement, and on how to hinder the rival. It’s about making the best decision and forgetting about the mistake. Let's be brave, Kevin told me that pressure is for tires. You have to enjoy it, this is football. There’s a lot of hard work behind it.”