GARCÍA PIMIENTA: "WE'LL GIVE EVERYTHING WE CAN TO SHOW THE BEST FORM OF OURSELVES"

Xavi García Pimienta spoke at the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's game against FC Barcelona, starting with a touching message to UD Las Palmas player Kirian Rodríguez: "I'd like to send my best wishes to Kirian. I'm confident that he will get through this. But during these tough times, I'd like to send all my support to him and his family. Without a doubt he'll be back to doing what he loves very soon. That being playing football."

He then discussed the two injuries picked up during yesterday's training session: "A player getting injured is always bad news. Unfortunately, two of our boys picked up an injury right at the end of the session. I feel bad for them, Akor and Sambi have both strained a muscle. They will both be out for a few weeks, but the rest of the squad is looking good. We know how good this weekend's opponents will be and the good form that they're in. They have beaten teams by considerable margins in recent weeks. We'll have to be careful, but fighting for every ball. Hopefully we'll do better than in the reverse fixture. We started well in Barcelona but couldn't keep it up. Now we're at home. We'll play with pride and use the atmosphere to our advantage. We'll give everything we can to show the best form of ourselves. We want to be competitive. We want to win. We'll fight until the final whistle."

"Even though they played yesterday, the result was sealed after 20 minutes. That shows their ability and potential. It's likely that we won't have as much of the ball as we would like to and learn to manage the game off the ball. We are well aware of the threat that they pose. They are well-drilled in defence, playing their high line, but hopefully we can exploit this. We want to be in the game and prevent them from taking the lead. There are so many threatening players to be aware of... Lamine, Ferrán, Raphina, Lewandowski, Fermín."

"We are well aware of the threat they pose, but hopefully we can exploit them at the back"

The next topic was the end of the transfer window: "I'm responsible for coaching the squad, getting the best out of the players that we have. I'm not in charge of transfer strategy, merely working alongside the club to identify positions where we might require reinforcemants. For example, I would have like another left-back or perhaps a central midfielder. I spoke with the club, but signing players is not my responsibility. We have a slightly depleted squad for the 16 matches that remain, but I have full faith in the boys that we have. This week's injuries have not helped, especially with Carmona also getting injured. But no matter how many players we have available, we will always give 100%."

With regards to the academy, García Pimienta said, "I will gamble when I believe it will pay off. It's currently Friday, we have one more session before the game. Manu Bueno and Ramón Martínez will be included in the squad and have a very realistic chance of playing. If not Sunday perhaps in the coming weeks. When first-team players get injured we must look to the academy to help out. When youth players have played this season they've done great and we trust them. As for Hormigo, he is someone we have in mind. He trained with us during pre-season, as did Oso. We also have Kike Salas. On the left-hand side of defence, we only have Pedrosa available from the first team, but we will find a solution."

Responding to suggestions that Juanlu would replace Carmona in the starting XI, he revealed, "His ideal position is on the wing, be it a winger, full-back or even one of the wide centre-backs in a three-back. He's played centrally as well, getting forward and scoring goals. But I think his best position is on the right-hand side. I'm very pleased with his work ethic and his performances this season."

Finally, our Head Coach was asked about Sambi Lokonga, to which he replied, "He's a great player. I feel bad for him; he's struggled a bit with injuries this season. He mentioned that he would like to stay. He's adapted well to our style of play and we'd love to keep him, but that's down to his parent club, not us."