Carles Gil recalled in Abegondo’s press room this morning that “despite having improved a little in the league table, we are still down there. Every match is a final or a very important game for us”.

Thus, he believes “it would be a mistake to think about #ONOSODERBI (our derby on Sunday 19 March, Riazor, 6:30pm, Bein Sports) before this Sunday’s game (against Barcelona in Riazor, 4:15pm, Bein Sports)”.

One caution away, he insisted on Pepe Mel’s words: “For those of us who are one caution away, it’s wrong that we are thinking about how many yellow cards we have. Otherwise it’s best someone else plays. We have to give 100%. To top it all, Barça is a team that takes you to the limit, you’re going to have to foul to stop their attack. If in this case, one of us is playing and gets booked, in the end the team is what’s important. If there isn’t one, there’ll be another”.

After a frantic fortnight of matches, Carles Gil assured that “whichever player plays on Sunday, he is going to be 100% match-ready. The boss wants us to be honest and sincere with him. If we’re at our 100% or not. They’re also going to come from having made a tremendous psychological and physical effort. In that sense, we have no excuse”.

Despite it being extremely difficult to beat “one of the best teams in the world, so as not to say the best, with the best players”, the Deportivista forward believes in being able to gain three points: “I know it’s very complicated. But we know we have our options and that’s what we have hold onto. I have complete confidence in the team and that we can achieve this”.

He recalled that in the Santiago Bernabéu in the first round of the league, “it was was an extremely complicated ground, to top it all away, and we came very close to bringing three points home. It will be the same against Barcelona”.

The fact that Barcelona will come to Riazor after their historical comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in Champions League this week, Carles Gil thinks this makes them “more dangerous. When you have a positive mind, and your spirit is high, it’s an extra plus. It happens to all of us. If you also add this to these types of players, they’re even more dangerous”.