Diego Martínez: "Managing emotions during the match will be key"
UD Las Palmas' head coach analyzed the upcoming Matchday 26 clash in LaLiga EA SPORTS, emphasizing that "We need to earn points in a very tough match against a wounded opponent and in weather conditions different from what we are used to here."
Diego Martínez spoke to the media at the press room of the Estadio Gran Canaria ahead of the match against Real Valladolid. He stated, "In life, it's all about how you interpret things. The atmosphere shouldn't affect us. It will be a very complex and difficult game where we need to be precise." He added, "For teams at the bottom, small details in matches can go either way. We are focused on what we need to do to win. If the stadium atmosphere isn't great, maybe it's better for us than for the home team."
Here are some of his key statements:
"Tomorrow, nothing ends—it all continues. We keep working from there. It's like Basque sports, where they strike the wood, but the trunk doesn’t break with the last hit—it breaks because of all the hits before it. Precision in both areas, belief in what we do… No one said it would be easy."
"I will field the best eleven for our game plan. Since we arrived, we’ve been open to everyone and trust all our players. We are looking for that ‘click’ we need. The challenge is to repeat what we do well to achieve our goal."
"In football, there is no such thing as an obligation to win—otherwise, everyone would be World or Champions League winners. We want and need to win because it's our next match, and it's the most important one. At home, we won with a fantastic goal from Sandro in a very tight game."
"Tomorrow, more than ever, is the time to break the statistics. UD Las Palmas has lost 13 times and drawn once in Valladolid in LaLiga. We know it will be a tough and difficult match against a strong opponent, and in football, anything can happen. We need to do many things well. We faced them less than two months ago on the island and are fully aware of the challenge ahead."