GARCÍA PIMIENTA: "WE NEED TO APPROACH THE MATCH WITH CONCENTRATION AND INTENSITY"

Xavi García Pimienta spoke ahead of our cup tie tomorrow against UE Olot: "It is a very difficult game. Yesterday we saw the first surprise of the round with Espanyol being knocked out. Apart from Celta who won comfortably, for the others it was not straightforward. They are an opponent from Segunda RFEF (fourth tier) with some players that I know and a coach who is a close friend and is very good. They are going to play in front of their fans and it will be very difficult. We need to approach the match with concentration and intensity because if not it will be difficult. It is a knockout tie and there is no room for error. There will be players who have not been playing as many minutes and they will place tomorrow because they are ready. We face it with excitement and responsibility, knowing the difficulty." 

On our opponent, he knows the coach Pedro Dólera very well: "He is an excellent coach that has coached a lot in Segunda B (third tier) and now in Segunda RFEF (fourth tier). He is more than capable of coaching higher up the pyramid, he just needs someone to give him an opportunity. He is very studious, he puts his stamp of his teams, he works a lot of tactics and this season he has a lot of quality players that play a passing game. The stadium is very old but the pitch is in perfect condition. They won't back down, but they will press us and make us work hard." 

"There will be palyers who are not having as mnay minutes and tomorrow they will play because they are ready" 

Additionally, he recognised the inclusion of an academy player in the squad: "Andrés Castrín is going to come with us, I know him well from pre-season and he is doing well with the reserve team. We can't bring more because we have Juanlu, Carmona, Alberto, and Idumbo with reserve team contracts. We have to be very careful with the lineup. Andrés is ready, and if he has to play tomorrow, he will do well." On the other hand, he said "Jesús has trained perfectly, he is available, and unless something unusual happens, he will participate tomorrow and move forward. He did the entire session without any issues. Saúl is still going through the adaptation process. The other day, he played 30 very good minutes, with an assist. Tomorrow we’ll see how many minutes he gets. Nyland will indeed come because we are staying in Olot on Friday, and he will train with the group. If nothing unusual happens, he will be available for Sunday."

When asked about Valentín Barco, he acknowledged that "it's complicated. When something like this happens, you don’t know what to do. You go out for dinner, and when you come back, you find the house like this. It's a material issue, but it creates insecurity. He’s quite worried, I’m not going to deny it. He trained today, but I know the club was with him the entire time yesterday for anything he needed. He knows he has us, and it's a difficult situation to handle, but the Sevilla family will be with him, and we will support him in every way."

He finished by talking about Iheanacho and his failed substitution this Monday: "He was ready to come on, but Lokonga had a slight issue and Agoumé went out. He’s training very well, he hasn’t played more because I’ve considered that Isaac is doing well. Tomorrow he will participate, and if you look at his CV, you can see he’s a great player, but in no case are we considering anything."