“I signed to be fourth at the last minute and from an unfair penalty”

Imanol Bailiff It is clear that the only goal in this last quarter of the Liga is to hold onto the Champions League position that Real has held almost since the beginning of the Liga. “You’ve seen how we’ve qualified in recent years,” he recalled, noting the fact that his team had sealed their European qualification in the final stages of the final game on two of the three occasions. That’s why now, to get access to the Champions League, “I signed that it was in the last minute of the last game and an unfair penalty.”

“I remind you that we are still fourth”, launched the coach of Real in the face of a certain tendency to pessimism that he saw after the latest results, especially the defeat (2-0) against Athletic : “I said that this is the most important game and when we lose it is even more annoying”, said Oriotarra, who admitted that he was “crazy” that day after the game, but the next day he was already thinking how Rayo Vallecano lost.

This disappointment causes the pursuers, Betis and Villarreal, to have placed themselves at three and four points: “I said it clearly two months ago, I thought that, after so long in fourth place, it would be long ” he narrates. “I thought the loss seemed like the world would fall, but I was calm,” he said. Oriotarra believes expectations have risen after a good first round, but insists “I give a lot of credit to what we did in the first and second rounds and, at the moment, we are fourth”.

focused players

He is also not worried about the wave of information, comments and rumors that already exist in the future of some realists: “I am not set yet, I have not known, but I can say that the real players are only thinking about maintaining the fourth position, where we have been for most of the year.”

In this sense, the physical, mental and game condition in which Real faces the decisive phase of the championship, with a very difficult calendar ahead: “With desire, with enthusiasm and with enormous ambition” offers some doubt This is how the Real deal according to imanol: “Whatever happens tomorrow, next time we will fight for fourth. I have a huge illusion to continue to be fourth,” he said.

a formidable rival

La Real will face Rayo Vallecano on Andoni Iraolawho has endowed his squad with a very clear personality and great power in football: “When we have the ball, we have to do things very well because they press very well”, he began by warning imanol. “When they jump, they have a very good return,” he specified, which will force Real to use “a lot of quality, precision and speed.”

The Oriotarra coach says that Rayo have “a lot of speed” on the ball and especially on the wings: “They are killers in transitions,” he reveals. Also, thanks to players like Oscar Valentine, first lopez, Trejo either coming, they have “many levels inside”. However, what best defines Rayo, according to the Real coach, is its verticality when it comes to attack and the speed to find full-backs and wingers. “They won’t do anything to surprise us and we won’t surprise them either, but if we do what we plan well, we can win,” said Oriotarra.

imanol He made sure that he is not preparing this match against Rayo also thinking about the following ones against Betis, Osasuna and Real Madrid and he understands that the points cannot be missed at home, due to the brutality of the schedule in abroad, but he feels that “it will not be like that “: “Today it cost us a lot to get points and we won the last two at home. I told the players two months ago that we have to improve at home. And we have to return to what we are in other countries. If we succeed, We will stay where we are until the end,” he says.