Javier Aguirre is not nervous a few hours before his team Mallorca plays the final of the Copa del Rey in La Cartuja, but the Mexican coach does not escape the fact that it will not be “enough with enthusiasm and tranquility” to overcome Athletic, a team that considers superior and is concerned about “the speed” of his players.
“I don’t think it’s enough just with enthusiasm and calm. You have to play well and not make mistakes, which condemn you in a final and even more so against Athletic. They steal from you and they don’t forgive you. You have to play an almost perfect game,” he explained In the previous press conference the veteran coach, who gave the role of favorite to the Basques: “They are a team that leads us by 25 points in the League and beat us the last time by 4-0.”
“I’m worried about their speed. You make a mistake in a start and they vaccinate you. They are very dynamic with the ball and very humble to run,” he praised Valverde’s men, although that does not mean that his “team is very excited.” “We are in a Cup final without intending to and without him being in our project,” he said, in addition to pointing out that he wants to go “to penalties” but for them to be resolved “in his favor.”
Spontaneous like few others, Aguirre does not have a pre-established plan to motivate his players before the game. “You already know me. I don’t write scripts. Sometimes a good speech comes out and other times it doesn’t. It will be something natural. You can’t act or make up speeches because they detect it. If you don’t speak from the heart you’re screwed,” he said.
Aguirre recalled the Cup final that he lost against Betis in 2005 when he led Osasuna in a context “similar” to the duel between Mallorca and Athletic. “Betis was better, they were in the Champions League. Now I think I have greater tools and knowledge of the game and that makes me confident in my work,” he explained.
Nicknamed ‘the Basque’, Aguirre also confronts his roots. “I grew up in a Basque house in Mexico. There were Athletic posters and we listened to the games on the radio. On Tuesdays the results arrived in a Mexican newspaper. My brothers came to Spain one summer and stayed seven years in Gernika, in the “My mother’s town. They came back being more of an Athletic player,” Aguirre, who has not been offered a renewal, recalled his childhood, as he explained to the media.
