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Diego Martínez: “The team has always been competitive”
The coach asserts that they must be at their best for the visit of Mallorca
Diego Martínez has insisted that the team must be consistent to get the results they deserve, ahead of Saturday’s match against Mallorca.
RCD Espanyol welcome Mallorca to the RCDE Stadium this weekend as they hope to build on victory last week to Elche, albeit against a side in the pursuit of European football. The coach spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the match, keen for his side to make a statement and fulfil their potential.
Martínez said, “The team has always been competitive, even in matches like Real Sociedad when we were 3-0 down. It is hard for me to watch matches where one team is clearly superior. I always see details that determine the match. LaLiga is very competitive and the results reflect it, so we must try to find our consistency”.
Espanyol have found wins hard to come by at home, but nevertheless will be backed by the blanquiazul home support. Though Martínez admitted he was not keen on the kick-off time, he emphasised the importance of the fans as always in getting the three points.
“You have to adapt, it does not matter what the kick-off time is”, Martínez explained, “A 2pm kick-off does mean that children can come to enjoy an afternoon of football. The fans are always with us, and tomorrow we are going to need them more than ever. Hopefully we can compete and win with them.”
On Saturday’s opponents, he continued, “Mallorca have had a great season, they have the points tally they have because they have done very well. It is going to be a very demanding match and one that will bring everything out of us”.
Martínez concluded, “What I want is to win and to do so, we have to improve defensively. That is something I have said throughout the season. What matters is that we achieve our goals come the end of the season. The key is the collective, the team, as every player is important”.