Diego Martínez: "As professionals, we want to win the match out of respect for the competition, our rivals, and ourselves."
The UD Las Palmas coach stated, "I have to focus on the next match, we have to compete at our best until the last day. The objective hasn’t been met and that’s what saddens us the most, but we gave it our all."
Diego Martínez spoke at a press conference before facing the final matchday of the league against RCD Espanyol, which will be played tomorrow, Saturday, at the RCDE Stadium (17:30). Some of his statements:
"The objective hasn’t been met and that’s what saddens us the most, but we gave it our all. We managed to get out of a very difficult situation at first, and then after the match against Atlético de Madrid, with six matches left, we climbed out of the relegation zone again, but it wasn’t enough."
"Everyone gave their best, sometimes things go your way and other times they don’t. I think the team had very good attacking performance. We have in mind some very clear chances, even goals that were disallowed. Our Achilles’ heel has been that we’ve conceded too easily."
"We’ve lacked precision and maybe talent, but not professionalism. When things go badly, everything seems negative."
"We came with a mission, which was to get the best out of the team. We’re very proud of the work we’ve done with some of the academy players. I had direct communication with Tonono, to whom I’m very grateful. Whether a player gets more or less minutes depends on other factors, because each has their own process, criteria, and timing."
"This is the life of a coach — I’ve been coaching for 24 years. It’s a very difficult time for everyone, we all want to win, we respect the club and the competition."