Did you expect at the beginning of the season, as the situation was, such a comfortable classification?
Nobody thought we were going to be like this. Not us, not the fans and the people who saw us from other places. This has been thanks to the efforts of each one, the coaching staff, the sports director and the players. It was difficult. People see it as something easy, but it has not been easy at all. We have been fighting every moment with lineups, with players who have been injured … it has been an incredible chaos that is not easy to handle. There were times when the coach had to put the team almost with a puzzle because he could not make changes for the team's chips, due to injuries, or people who had COVID. It has been a very beautiful season and we hope that these two remaining games will continue competing as we have been doing up to now.
The quarry, to power.
I'm from the quarry and there are good players here. There are people from Malaga who are playing in big teams like Brahim who scores a goal against Juve, there is Samu Castillejo. The quarry helps in bad times. They have responded by going from playing in Third or youth to suddenly competing in Second.
Brahim …
I have contact with him because he has played with me in the lower categories and I am glad that he is having opportunities to show the player that he is. Because, for me, in Madrid I should have had more opportunities. And he had them for us. It is a cannon. He will return to Real Madrid because he has a lot of talentor.
Has this been the year of your explosion as a footballer?
I am much more mature. It is my best year. I have gained experience.
He has gone from youth squad to captain general.
We knew how the situation was and they told me that they were counting on me, that I would be an important player and that if I saw myself qualified to be one of the captains. I told them that this year I was going to do my best in everything and that I was going to help the team. And if he was like one of the captains, delighted.
Is it true that you were about to go to Elche?
There were teams that loved me, including Elche. My wish was to stay here to help Málaga and feel important. I wouldn't want to go back to make another decision.
Signed until 2022. Can this stay be extended?
We all know how the club is. The main thing is to see how everything starts and what budget we have. I have one year left on my contract and I hope there will be many more here.
How do you rate the work of Manolo Gaspar and Sergio Pellicer?
It is not an easy job because after a preseason with players who had to leave and others who came, players did not know if they were staying or leaving … It is not easy to do a preseason like this. Almost a month the team was full and has competed from the first moment. It was thanks to the coaching staff who made the most of us and we have responded to the demands.
Do you think Pellicer is going to stay?
I would like him to stay. But each person must make the decision they see as correct. I think he is very comfortable in Malaga and he shows it every day. He has a good connection with Manolo Gaspar and with the judicial administrator (José María Muñoz) and I hope he stays here.
How is the receivership?
He is a good person and very kind. When they put you in a place where you have to fix things, there will be people who don't like you or dislike them. José María came in to help the club and I think the only way to fix it was by making the decisions he made. It was not easy at all to move the club forward and it has succeeded. And it was something that a lot of people thought was going to be very difficult and almost impossible.
Applying an ERE is very hard.
It's tough because you see partners you've dealt with in difficult situations. I think it's difficult for him because nobody likes having to make those decisions. It is a position that he assumed and everything that is done must be respected because he did not do it for him individually, but for the club and the city, so that people could continue to enjoy this club.
How was that experience with Real Madrid?
It was years ago. I had contacts with Real Madrid. He wanted to sign me. I decided to stay at home because I thought it was the most convenient since I would play in higher categories and I thought it would be easier to get to the first team. I'm glad I made that decision because I'm in the first team and being one of the captains.
In Lugo he did a good ‘military’.
He was used to always playing on the handle and it is not easy to decide to get away from his family, friends and environment. That makes you tougher and mature. I do not regret it because it has helped me to have that experience. The coach was Francisco and we had a good team.
That's where his grandmother, his biggest fan, came on the scene.
My grandmother follows me to death in soccer. He loves social media and making friends. I think she's better known than me (laughs). She has always supported me at all times. There was a moment when, when I was in Lugo and I felt a little lonely and it was the first one that said to me: “Don't you mind if I go there with you for a while? He came and stayed for three months and he was very happy because he helped me a lot because it is not easy to be alone outside the home.
The Cordoba thing was more complicated.
I felt comfortable because it was close to home and the people there are very friendly and easygoing. But there were problems with the directive. Every time we went to train, instead of thinking about playing, it was the opposite, in what problems were you going to find yourself, how were you going to travel, if they were going to pay you monthly … it was all chaos. He was not thinking about training but about extra sports problems.
Too bad the team is like this!
I follow him and the truth is that the other day I was disappointed because it is a great club, fans and city. But when things are not done well, everything ends up falling apart.
Do you remember the day of your debut with Malaga at the Camp Nou?
It was a dream. Weeks before I was with friends of mine and I would watch the games. They knew that I trained with the first team but I did not expect to be called up and make my debut there (the coach was Juande Ramos) against the great team that is Barcelona. It was a very difficult draw. I entered nervous, excited and eager.
Michel put him as a right back.
He had never played in that position. Not in the branch, youth or cadet. If the coach puts you there, you have to do your best.
And Pellicer has relaunched him as an improvised scorer.
I feel very comfortable there. Also, I like the way Pellicer plays a lot because we are a daring team that put a lot of pressure up front and every time we steal we go well against it. He is a coach who likes to be intense. And that in those categories is very important. He always says that with this intensity we can win or lose, but surely we will give a good level. And that is how we have seen it this year with all the problems that there have been and the few chips. He has squeezed all the players and brought out the best in each one.
Always central?
In the lower categories I had already played in my current position, '8' or '6'. I went from second-year cadets to central because a teammate was injured in a game. I played a good game and soon after, the Spanish team called me for the center back.
The selection…
I agreed with many who are now the First. Oyarzábal, Unai, Ontiveros, Brais, Aleix, Aarón on the right, central Lluis, Espanyol… That generation of '97 is good.
It seems that, little by little, Málaga is taking off as an institution.
We are a good team, one of the youngest in Segunda. If this block could be maintained, with these players and contributing others who came, it would be a great idea because it is a young team, with desire and ambition. Hopefully we can follow all or almost all and reinforce this squad.
How are you dealing with these times of pandemic?
Complicated because it is difficult not to be able to live the day-to-day training and then go to the locker room, talk with the teammates, shower with them, go and have a drink if it fits … If at home we had had an audience surely the team would have tightened in some games much more and teams would have noticed. Going out to warm up and listening to how people cheer you on is a plus to start with that little bit of strength.
You had to go through a quarantine.
I was there for my wife who had COVID: Thank God I didn't catch it and I had to keep the Sabbaths. The doctor came to my house to do the tests. He made me seven or eight and eight, negative. There are colleagues who came in good dynamics and caught COVID having to be apart for a while without being able to compete. We have seen matches that have had to be suspended because the players caught this disease. Imagine if this leads us to happen that we are caught with tweezers.
Malaga has fared well in this pandemic,
The staff has had a lot of education. They have insisted a lot that we could not miss matches in the competition because we caught COVID, that you never know because you can catch it if you go shopping or dining anywhere. People have had a lot of responsibility.
What are your protocols?
They tell us not to try to be in groups, if there is a relative's birthday, try not to go, because when people accumulate it is easier for you to catch it. Also in the locker room, traveling, masks … if someone asks us for a photo, we always do it with the mask and separation protocol. We must abide by the rules because it is for us.
And what do you think of this Second Division? Raúl De Tomás charges more than the entire Málaga squad.
When we go out to the field we do not think about whether they charge more than us but that we are eleven against eleven, people like us. Mallorca also has a big budget and we have competed against a great team that will be the second to be promoted.
Has this Malaga exceeded all expectations?
He would put his hand in the fire that he has overcome them. From the inside we have demanded ourselves to be able to fight for something more beautiful, but the main thing was to be able to get 50 points, which was not easy. We want to be as high as possible and we have done everything possible.
What was the most difficult moment of the season?
The preseason because it was not known which team was going to stay, the players who would come, the whole issue of the ERE. Players who could not register and then yes … That wears you down. You are the coach and you say: “What team am I going to compete with in the first matches? I don't know what players I have and who I'm going to train to put on the weekend ”. What both the group and Pellicer have done is to be commended.
Do people value what they have done?
Whoever has followed us from the first moment knows the situation we have been through. People have told us that they are very happy with us, with the performance, that we have defended the shield to the death and it has been.
They have debuted seven homegrown players and played 13 with a subsidiary file. And we do not include Juande and you, who already have a professional record.
A Malaga from Malaga. We also have Escassi, who has veteran status, but is from Malaga, Joaquín Muñoz who is also from here. This year they have been the most Malaguista team.
Who is the player who has surprised you the most?
I had not seen Pablo Chavarría, but the truth is that he seems to me to be a very good player because of what he contributes to the team, because of how he is as a person and how he helps teammates. In the category I really like Dani (Rodríguez) who plays for Mallorca, a great player.
Can Malaga fight next season for something more than permanence?
Let's see the budget you have. Hopefully LaLiga, knowing what Málaga has done this year open the ban a bit and say that it allows us to have more chips and a little more salary. If that is fulfilled, Manolo Gaspar will have to be there, like this year, hitting the nail on the head and bringing in players to be able to fight for something more than salvation.