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Cabrera: "We have the utmost confidence"

Previewing the promotion playoffs

RCD Espanyol midfielder Leandro Cabrera has described the positive nature of the dressing room in the runup to the playoff semifinal against Sporting Gijon.

Speaking in a press conference on Thursday, he commented that: “The team are very optimistic because we are coming off a very good run of results. We also start with the advantage in terms of our final league position. Sporting Gijon will be very difficult opponents, but we have the utmost confidence about getting a good result at a very difficult ground."

He added that “we have to make change in approach very quickly for the playoffs, but adds we have players with experience, who already know what it means to be promoted. That gives you peace of mind. This is another opportunity to go up, not a punishment. The punishment is not being promoted, so we see this as a new opportunity to achieve promotion.”

Cabrera opined that “the important game is the first leg. Whoever does well in the first leg goes a long way towards progressing in the return leg, even if it is not definitive. It affects what happens in terms of their approach, for example. But we have to be clear that we are going to a ground that is a pressure cooker, as we already saw during the season.”

As for the kind of match he expects, Cabrera believes that "we will see a team that will try to overwhelm us. If I put myself in their shoes, I would think of Sporting Gijon as the strongest side of the four of us. They will come out with a lot of confidence; that's what I expect."

“We have to be a reliable team who defend well and do damage up top. There are no favourites in the playoffs. All four teams have reasons to be confident.”