‘We got great vibes ahead of the league’s return,’ exclaimed UD Almeria head coach Rubi when making an assessment of the preparation period that his squad has been taking over the six-week break to accommodate the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

The head coach argued in this regard that ‘we’ve taken advantage of this time to not focus so much on competing and more on the idea of the game and team-work. We’ve completed the sessions over this winter break very well and we’ll be going into the first game back without injury concerns and with the all the players recovered. I reckon the team is getting better and better.’

The Vilassar de Mar native pointed out ‘we know that each match is a different story and that in pre-seasons, the results aren’t as important as it was shown last summer, when they weren’t good and then, we got the league to a good start.’ Be that as it may, winter preparations amid the World Cup have been really positive and real proof of this has been the friendlies played, such as the last one against SS Lazio in which ‘we felt quite comfortable, improving in attack gradually, but we had a rock-solid defence throughout the full 90 minutes.’ [UD Almeria 2-0 SS Lazio].

When asked about what aspects he had intensified the most during these weeks, Joan Francesc Ferrer Sicilia ‘Rubi’ replied ‘We always want the team to dominate all possible situations, both offensively and defensively. Sometimes, it's all about reinforcing.’ He then stressed ‘we’ve conveyed the idea that rivals cannot score a goal against us with few passes, taking advantage every time we lose the ball. It’s very difficult to sum it up... We’ve also worked on set-pieces.’

UD Almería have picked up only one point on their trips. When questioned about this matter, the Rojiblancos’s gaffer explained ‘the backroom staff and the players have already said it, but we aren’t going to put more pressure on us for not having won an away game. It's about scoring points. We’ve got sixteen, five above relegation places. Of course we want to win away from home; I’m pretty sure that we’ll do better in the second half of the season.’

Rubi gave a very positive assessment of latest recruit Luis Suárez, about whom he said ‘he’s a young footballer with a bright future ahead of him, which is perfect to continue growing. He’s arrived all excited and I’m convinced that he'll help us.’

The head coach has given his staff the weekend off, since as he indicated ‘we’re a team that works hard and what we now have to do is, like everyone, enjoy the 24th and 25th December celebrations with the family, be happy and give and receive a lot of love’... and also stressed ‘I take this opportunity to wish the entire province of Almería Merry Christmas.’