Álex Centelles: 'It's important to start the league with a win'
The UD Almería left-back states on UDA Radio: 'The pre-season has been hard, but we already knew that with Rubi it'd be like that. We'll start the league in shape but we have a tough-looking away game.'
'It's very important to start the league with a win,' says UD Almería left-back Álex Centelles ahead of Sunday's season opener in Santander in an interview on UDA Radio. 'We have a tough-looking away game to start with. The pre-season has been very hard, something that did surprise him, quite the opposite: 'We already knew that with Rubi it'd be like this. The demands in this preparation period allow you to start the league in shape and I believe that we're strong and eager.'
Furthermore, the 24-year-old pointed out: 'The pre-season training camp in Marbella has strengthened us as a group.' Centelles, like his team-mates, wants to make up for what happened last season: 'Football gives you second chances and we want to return to the place we were in the first division.'
Achieving the goal is not going to be easy because as Centelles argued: 'Every season this tier is very complicated, but the one we're going to start is going to be even more so. Most of the clubs have been in Primera and many will fight to earn promotion.' He also recognises the difficulty of the curtain-raiser in Santander: 'Last season, Racing put in a great performance, they have an incredible fan base and they'll go all out to get the first three points.'
The left-back, who claims to have healthy competition and a good relationship with Bruno Langa, is going to complete his fifth season at UD Almería: 'I feel at home. Here I've experienced everything as a footballer; staying on the verge of a promotion, moving up to Primera, securing league safety, going down again… I have the hope of reliving what happened three years ago.'