Rubi, the Almería coach, values his team’s performance against Atlético.
What does the point taste like?
A coach must make decisions when he sees things he doesn’t like without selecting the matches in which to be intense. Atlético have had two clear chances that Fernando has saved, but not due to disorganization of the team, they are very strong physically and they win duels. This way they have done us more damage than with the elaborate game, which has been quite controlled.
What feelings does it leave you with respect to the previous game?
It is very important that the fans are happy and today, winning or losing, we cannot blame the fact that the team has been intense, they have competed well. Atleti have a great team and a great coach and we have competed at their level. The difficulty is maintaining it and doing it every day. In the end there will be times when it is better to give continuity to an eleven and other times it will have to be moved. We can’t give away a game.
Has the disallowed goal against Kondogbia been the turning point?
We went well to the game, but in the last third of the field we have been short, which usually happens to us. I don’t know if that play was key. The team was convinced to treat Atlético face to face.
Five new faces in the eleven. They are all protagonists except Pacheco.
There are times when it pays not to play much. The issue is knowing how to see when it’s time to move and this time it was important to do so. The message is very clear.
When Atleti has been left with ten what did you think?
In that time there has been a break, but we have taken a couple of crosses, a good combination that has lacked clarity at the end, another against… The team has gone for the game and they have had no situations.
What does the ranking tell you?
This is a long-distance race, I look at 40 points and everything we get close to is positive. The important thing, more than scoring, was the issue of sensations. Almería was doing well before the break. Now we want to zoom in on the middle of the table.
He also attended the DAZN microphones:
How satisfied are you with the game?
Pretty. We have played against a great team, against extraordinary footballers and Almería has never been seen fearful, we have sought victory one on one. In the second part they have had two clear situations, but we have had arrivals in the area that we could have taken more advantage of. We leave sad because it was a day to have been able to win, but they have also been able to score the second.
Did you feel comfortable going back and forth in the second half?
Atlético is a physically very strong team. They have managed to make us run two or three times in a couple of duels in the middle and they have planted us there. It is not that we emptied ourselves behind, but that they won duels in the middle. If you want to try to win, you have to offer something and we have. It hasn’t been enough, but the sensations are better than against Real, when we don’t compete with this intensity
How do you rate Robertone?
To the coach, talking about a specific footballer seems unfair to me, but when Robertone is at his level, because he has more normal days, he gives us football, grit, disputes, set pieces… He helps us 100% a lot, he is very complete.