Samú: ‘We’re taking advantage of this week to improve our fitness’
The Portuguese values positively the league ‘pause’ this weekend and hopes to play CD Lugo in good shape
‘We’re taking advantage of this week in which we aren’t competing to improve our fitness and get back in shape. The truth is that it’s good for us to make a full recovery and go into the game against CD Lugo in good shape,’ explained Samú Costa.
The Portuguese player valued this league ‘break’ positively as the team expect an upturn in form with some players fully recovered from their injuries.
Samú Costa does not mind playing on Wednesday, Monday, Friday or Saturday, yet he does acknowledge ‘we’d have liked to play against CD Lugo before Christmas because we were on a positive streak. It couldn’t be due to coronavirus, but health is what matters.’ The three points at stake at the Anxo Carro Stadium are relevant because as he underlined: ‘we want to open the gap at the top of the table.’
The Rojiblanco midfielder emphasised ‘this team have shown ambition, hard work and can-do attitude in the most difficult matches. We’re going to keep on track and be humble. We’re in a good place, everyone would like to be the first like us and we want to stay there.’
On that note, the 21-year-old defensive midfielder added ‘ this season, the best thing we’ve got is the quality and humility that everyone shows. We’re winning a lot of games with subs coming off the bench and scoring goals. The important thing is to keep this attitude now that there are some players out of action and perform as we used to do before Christmas.’
On a personal level, Samu Costa stated ‘I’m improving as a player and as a person day by day. I’ve become a mature footballer and last year and this year’s yellow cards only go to prove. The coaching staff and my team-mates are helping me loads.’
On a side note, the Aveiro-born footballer highlighted UD Almería's self-confidence when defending and explained ‘if we look at the match against UD Las Palmas…they always create 7 or 8 big chances at home and they only had two shots on goal. We’re very good defensively, we have quality when attacking and therefore, we’ll always create goalscoring opportunities. If we manage to keep a clean sheet, we’ll always score a goal against our rivals.’
Finally, the former U20 Portugal international stressed ‘the head coach is dealing with the Covid-19 issue perfectly because he trusts the players that he still has available and whoever comes on the pitch remains competitive. The important thing is to really go for it even if you have to play in another position.’