Anquela: "We are going to tell football that we can do it"

Real Oviedo Head Coach Juan Antonio Anquela appeared in the Press Room this morning, following the training session at El Requexón.

He declared that his team is doing well after the break, and the squad is “very excited and eager to do things right, starting this Sunday. I am not thinking about eight matches. Our mentality is to just think about the first one. (We have to) go out to compete, to win, just as we have been doing and like we’ve been so close to doing, even though, for one reason or another, things have been getting away from us.”

Speaking about the next opponent, Córdoba, Anquela said that “you have already seen what can happen each Sunday. Córdoba is perfectly capable of beating Real Oviedo, just as we are capable of beating them.” Addressing possible tweaks to the line-up, Anquela stated that “we are working out which is the best option and whether we are capable of getting it right. I have the starting eleven clear in my mind. The players don’t know it yet and I’m not going to tell them right now, because that would be a lack of respect to all of them.”

When asked specifically about Ibra, the Real Oviedo coach responded that “I see him doing very well. He is a wonderful kid. He works just as hard as everybody else every single day, and he is perfectly ready to play. We’ll see what we do.”

What will Real Oviedo need in these next eight matches? According to Anquela, “just to win. Win and nothing else. We are doing everything possible to make it happen. The only thing we need to do is believe in it, and we do. I am very convinced that we are going to dig deep and that my lads are going to compete until the last minute.”

Talking about his personal feelings, Anquela repeated once more that “I still have the same hopes as the first day. All I ask for is eagerness, hope, and commitment, and the coach has to be the first one to show that.” The Coach concluded his remarks by saying that the team is prepared for the final stretch of the season: “despite all of the difficulties that are there, I believe that we are going to achieve it, because we believe and we are going to fight until the last second. When football is telling us no, that we can’t do it, that things and decisions aren’t going our way...we are going to tell football that we can do it.”