This morning, in Abegondo’s press room, Raúl Albentosa stated that Deportivo “has to face each match as if it were a final. Even if we win 3 matches in a row, three matches are 9 points; you haven’t obtained the 36 or 40 points you need. Each match is a final and a different world”.

The Deportivista defender believes that at this stage of the season “I am more keen and more determined than at the beginning of the league You’re either more determined and keen now, or you sink to the bottom. We either push and move forward, or the journey ends. Let it end for someone else”.

Along these lines, he also said that “because we haven’t won since December, we need a victory right away, so that the team moves a little step forward like in December. In December, we beat Real and then we played very well every match, against Betis, Osasuna, the day against Real Madrid away. It’s what we need for our very young teammates that need that motivation. We’re going to benefit from that".

He still says that the team “should be a little more ruthless, in the sense of wasting time, reading the game; if they’re attacking a lot, try and pause the game. There are teams that know how to do that really well, yet we’re kind of lacking in that game, in fact, a lot”.

However, he highlighted that something Dépor does not lack, is play: “With the players we have up front, we have it. We may lack other qualities. The other day, Athletic, a team that’s strong at home and tends to have the ball more than their opponents, up until the first goal, Çolak, Carles Gil, Kakuta, had the three quarters of the pitch fairly under control”.

Referring to Saturday’s game in Riazor, against Alavés (6:30pm, Bein Sports), he said it is “very important because we still haven’t won a game in 2017. It’s against a rival that, even though they are doing things well and have more points than us, they could be in our league”.

On a personal note, regarding having been benched for several matches, after forming part of the starting eleven for most of the first round, he believes that “for those people who thought I was here because I had a contract with the coach, as if I had to play by law... Here, nobody is committed to anybody. He is the one that decides who plays, and who he thinks is the best choice for each match. There were a lot of people that thought I was playing because I was the coach’s friend. It’s not like that”.