Raúl Albentosa spoke to the press this morning in Abegondo. Regarding this Sunday's match in Riazor, against Osasuna (6.30pm Bein Sports), he explained, “It’s very important. It's a final for us. There are many matches left, but it's very important to have 16 points before the Xmas break to give us a little more headway”.

He believes that having reached this stage of the competition, every wasted opportunity becomes increasingly important as there is less left to gain.

The blue and white defender told the press, “There’s been a huge change in the team since the match against Sevilla. Sevilla, Málaga, even Betis (away), then Real Sociedad and Madrid. In the end, you don't win. Yes, you play well, you give a good image, but the points are what matter most. No-one remembers this at the end of the season. They remember if you’ve made enough points to stay up or if you’ve achieved other objectives. Our aim is to slowly move away from the drop zone, and gain points; beginning with this match. We have to get three points no matter what”.

When asked about Osasuna, he replied, “I’m not worried about them at the moment. I’m more concerned about us and how we are; If we’re motivated, if we’re willing to go out and compete like we did against Real Sociedad, being more efficient with our moves, and not conceding any more goals”.

Albentosa then said, “I’ve changed the way I’ve been thinking up until now. When the season begins, and it doesn’t go as well as you expected, everything is negative and you can’t see the silver lining. I’ve changed my way of seeing things. I want to look at the bright side of things, to try and get bright things (such as gaining points) to happen. The team is very united at the moment. We proved this against Real Sociedad. It was a difficult moment as Sporting had won 3-1 the previous night, and we dropped to the relegation zone. We had to play against a team who was on top form in the league, and in the end, we won 5-1 and played a very good match. Once again, the other day we lost hold of the match, but we had it”.

He finished off by saying, “we have to remain united. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the following matches, but I don’t want there to be a break because we’re at that moment, physically and mentally, where we can gain points”.