With 38 points, Burgos is the best team in the category in its stadium. No one has won this season at El Plantío, a goal that Manolo González’s Espanyol is pursuing today (8:30 p.m.). The coach will coach his third game, in which Braithwaite will still not be there due to a sprained knee, in search of improving the results away from home. So far this year, the parakeets have added 33 points at home and 20 away. The draw against Tenerife (1-1) has returned the team to the direct promotion positions, and the locker room has conspired not to abandon them in the ten remaining games.
The Espanyol coach, Manolo González, stated yesterday that his team must go out “with the knife between its teeth” for this Friday’s match against Burgos and pointed out that “it means nothing” that the Catalan team is above in the classification of LaLiga Hypermotion.
The duel, which pits the second-placed team against the eighth-placed team, will be “beautiful and very complicated,” according to what the coach predicted at a press conference at the Stage Front Stadium: “Burgos competes very well. They pay off their positive aspects a lot and the negative ones. hides. We must go out and win from minute one.”
Manolo González specified that the keys to returning with the three points are to be “brave and try to minimize their virtues and value” those of Espanyol. “We must have personality and know that a football match is often decided by specific details,” he analyzed.
Regarding the condition of Danish striker Martin Braithwaite, who is recovering from a sprained knee, the coach did not confirm his presence in the squad: “After today’s session we will know his feelings. We have an option that he could be there tomorrow, but we must be consistent and think beyond.
The coach added that if the footballer “is perfect for traveling and looks good” he will be part of his plans. Otherwise, those responsible for the team will not take risks and will think “about the nine remaining games” to finish the league competition, apart from the hypothetical dispute for promotion.
Goalkeeper Pacheco has already recovered from his ankle discomfort and has “conditions to be called up and be able to compete,” the coach reflected. The person in charge of the bench assured that they are “happy” with Joan García, who took over from him during his injury, and praised the internal competition.
Defenders Calero, with pubic discomfort, and Rubén Sánchez, with calf problems, have trained normally during the week and “in principle”, as the Catalan coach announced, they should be able to be part of the squad. expedition to Burgos.
González commented that he gives “a lot of importance” to set pieces, both in “offensive and defensive” plays. The work is constant “so that what happened the other day does not happen again”, in reference to Tenerife’s tie (1-1) in the 90th minute after a corner kick.
On a personal level, the person in charge of the blue and white bench confessed that he has felt “loved and valued by the club from the first moment.” The coach highlighted his “great fortune” in meeting “very good people” at the club, something that he has “increased” upon reaching the first team.