‘We want to let Fuenlabrada know that we want to win and remain at the top of the table’

José María Gutiérrez stressed that the rojiblancos are going to face the next matchday 28 fixture with burning enthusiasm, ‘it is a great responsibility. We will play at home and we want to win the three points.’ The Almeria’s head coach acknowledged that the Madrileño team ‘are a very intense side so they will be difficult opponents.’ So, the coach considers their next rivals as a team who ‘play well defensively and I believe that their new signings made in the last January market are improving their offensive game.’ 

The head coach believes that it will be an evenly-matched game, in which the goal areas will decide the final result. In this regard, he added: ‘The less mistakes we make, the more difficulties they will have to score.’ In addition, in the Almeria dressing room there is a belief that the meeting will resemble the first leg. ‘We are two sides that know what we play and do not change depending on the results’, said the coach. At the same time, he explained that he foresees Fuenlabrada ‘playing more direct’ and our contenders ‘trying to get the ball, getting to the touch line and winning the second balls.’ 

Regarding the concept of intensity, the gaffer expressed the need to play intensively in the remainder of the competition because ‘there are fourteen finals left to be played.’ That is why he analysed: ‘We are just going to focus on Saturday and make sure Fuenlabrada see that we want to win from the kick-off and remain at the top of the table.’ He also stressed that players have been training very well for several weeks. However, it is being hard to put these concepts into practice at the weekends, something that led him to clarify: ‘If we played as we train, the results would have been different. This is what we have to make the boys understand’. 

José María Gutiérrez will not be able to sit on the side pitch bench in the next two fixtures because he was banned for two games by the Spanish Football Federation, but he is taking it easy because he is aware that he has ‘good staff on the bench, the message is clear and they will know what to do on the pitch on Saturday.’ In this regard, he did not want to express anything except: ‘For my piece of mind… I know I approached the ref with respect. It is true that I asked him to double check the penalty but nothing else. We have been there before…I went to tell him that we had already dropped two points a couple of weeks ago, because the other team were awarded a penalty and this play in Huesca was not even reviewed.’