Pepe Mel: “It’s a pity we’re leaving empty handed”

Pepe Mel stated that his idea was to “make the match tough for Levante” and he believes this was achieved. “In the first half, except for the set piece with that foul, they didn't have any dangerous chances. We gave the ball to them as we wanted to maintain that pace. We didn’t manage to keep it up and had to go for the game. We generated an opportunity to go level,” he said about the progression of the match. In addition, he commented it was a “pity” to leave “empty handed. We’re a team losing by the minimum and luck isn’t on our side. We do too many things to not get a reward. Today we played away against a great team and I think we were up to the task,” he stated.

The Madrid-born manager highlighted the importance of the details as the matches develop: “We knew that the clock would tick in our favour if the team gradually settled down. In fact, there was a time when the fans were whistling. That was the moment we were looking for, but we were cut off due to a set piece, stemming from a very poorly defended corner by us. Those details are why we’re in this situation, they are very important.”

Pepe Mel also talked about the feeling of defeat after playing a great match: “When you play games like this against rivals who are playing for promotion, with squads like these, in stadiums like this, you feel disappointed not to score.” In addition, he said “the Málaga fans are amazing. They’re behind us all the way and if they want to protest, they’ll wait until the end. The only thing we can promise them is the hard work they’ve seen today. We’re going to do the same against Granada on Thursday and we hope to be more successful and have more luck,” he concluded.