Imanol is “bored by the same message as always”, the one that refers to wasted scoring chances, to which he talks about the points slipping away without interruption due to the lack of goals. The txuri urdin left “hurt, angry, especially because of the last goal”, according to the coach, “but we have to raise our heads and I have no doubt that the team will get up”.
The summary of the game that Imanol was asked to do was on par with what was seen during the course of the 94 minutes. One stampede after another. “I think we’ve played very well in different phases, but when you don’t score it’s hard to win games,” lamented Imanol hopelessly, who saw his vein swell as the conference progressed. The duel “had to be decided in the areas and they have been more effective,” Alguacil pointed out.
Imanol was resounding as he couldn’t when the three sticks with which Isak and Sorloth crashed were reviewed. “There is no bad luck, it doesn’t exist in football,” said the man from Orio. “There is success or not. And we are not successful, ”he emphasized. With a critical voice, in a dry speech.
Imanol could not hide a monumental anger when the conversation turned to the non-existent penalty that decided the defeat of Real. “You already know me”, he pretended to go on tiptoe, but leaving on the table his observation that “the images are very, very, very clear”, in the opinion of the technician. In Valencia they liked the civilized attitude of the Real, for their polite protests, something that, suddenly, brought out the genius of Imanol: “Well, because we are like that, we have respect. We only ask that they respect us in the same way”, launched the coach, in a clear and unequivocal allusion to the referee’s actions.
Until the end in battle
Imanol’s complaints were resounding, he was affected because Real lost two minutes from the extension in the bottom field, a painful epilogue to a Friday that it is possible to remember at the end of the season. “There are nine points left at stake and we are not going to stop insisting”, Imanol clarified, adding that “if we play football like this, I imagine that the victories will come”
There are signs of tiredness, especially in Mikel Merino, but Imanol avoided personalizing and did not give his arm to twist facing the three remaining games, against Cádiz, Villarreal and Atlético de Madrid. “It will be decided on the last day” the fight for Europe, once again meant an Imanol with a disgruntled gesture like few times
