UD Almería U19 'A' drawn to Deportivo de La Coruña U19 in Spanish Cup U19 semis
The UDA Academy hopefuls are playing on 8th March in León city (Castilla y León). Alberto Lasarte states 'our rivals have a formidable talent and play attacking football.'
Deportivo de La Coruña U19 will be the next rivals of UD Almería Under-19s 'A' in the Spanish Cup U19 semi-finals that will be held 8-11 March at the Reino de León Stadium, where the youth teams of Athletic Club de Bilbao and current champs Real Madrid CF will also meet. The four teams have reached the semis and the draw for the semi-finals has taken place this Wednesday at the RFEF headquarters.
On Wednesday, 8 March, with the kick-time still to be confirmed, Ath. Bilbao U19s and Real Madrid CF U19's will face each other in the first semi-final, and then, in the second, UD Almeria U19 'A' and the Coruñeses. The winners of both matches will progress to the final on Saturday, 11 March.
UD Almería Under-19s 'A' head coach Alberto Lasarte stated 'Deportivo will be very difficult rivals, as Athletic and Real Madrid would have been too, since when they've come this far is because of their potential.' He then commented 'our opponents in the semi-finals are the giant killer from the tournament because they have knocked Celta de Vigo, Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal CF out, who have important Academies.'
Lasarte stressed 'it's a great team of formidable talent whose players like playing attacking football.' They beat Villarreal 3-4 after extra time and Atlético de Madrid 3-2, coming back from two goals down.'
The man in the driving seat of the Academy hopefuls' pointed out 'Deportivo, like us, are affected by the Cup, so whoever arrives fresher on a physical and mental level will have an edge over the other. We're in a phase of the competition in which we have four games in nine days and this is knackering for players of this age.'
Without going any further, UD Almería U19s 'A' host Real Betis U19 this Sunday with the first spot of the group IV at stake. The team will head by bus to León city at night to face the final phase of the Spanish Cup U19, since there is no other possible combination by plane. In addition. The lads will have to adapt to playing on natural grass, which they'll do on Monday and Tuesday at the Leonesa land in the Spanish region of Castilla y León.