“Imanol’s demand is what has led Real Sociedad to be so high these years”

Diego Rico (Burgos, 2-23-93) is having a hard time adapting to the ideas of Imanol Alguacil and Real Sociedad; but after a few injuries and many other controversial performances, he begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The side from Burgos celebrates with AS a resurgence that he was convinced that he was going to make it. “What the club has been doing all these years has spectacular merit.”

How does the team get to this league break?

Well. We are doing things right. The other day in Seville we missed two points, but we got the positive side that with that point we are still up there to face these nine games.

Do you feel that Real needed to stop a bit to face the last nine days with more guarantees?

All teams need it. That recharge to disconnect is appreciated by all the teams, but you have to keep working and get your batteries for what’s left.

In Seville, a physically improved Real was seen, as if they had poured fuel into the tank…

From inside I have always seen the team well. The mister rotates a lot and that means that everyone is plugged in and has their recovery time. It’s not a matter of fatigue, the results are worth it, but that doesn’t mean that the team is physically in a bad way.

In the end, the eliminations from the Cup and Europe have affected them less than you could imagine…

I think when you get eliminated or lose a game in a dire way, the best thing you can do is forget about the game and move on. Because if you relax, that’s when failures come and you can’t afford that. You have to try to disconnect from the eliminations soon and think about the next game to go for revenge. That’s what we believe in the locker room and perhaps that’s why defeats affect less than it seems.

They arrive at the break in sixth position with 48 points, which are better numbers than previous years, and even so the team is receiving more criticism than other years…

Let’s see, the evaluation must be done at the end of the season. It’s no use talking now. What we have to do is continue with the same line and in the end we will assess where we have deserved to be. It is the most sensible. You don’t have to look to the future. And think only of Espanyol. But what the team is doing has a lot of merit, combining with the Cup and Europe, but you have to continue, be ambitious but with your feet on the ground. Now only the league remains and we have to fight for everything until the end. You have to give incredible value to the seasons that the club has been doing.

You have been at Real for a few months now, what assessment do you make?

I’m fine. Since I came they have treated me like one more, as if I had been here all my life. They helped me in everything they could. It is a family and it shows, we all go as one, and thanks to that the results are being seen. And that has a lot of merit, because you come to a place with people who have been together for a long time because they have been playing from the quarry.

Has it cost you to adapt more than you expected to Real?

It is that it is not to arrive and kiss the saint. I was lucky that I broke my adductor when I arrived, I was injured for a while, I started to get minutes but Aihen is having a great season and the coach likes to rotate. And in Europe I was injured again, and I hope it will be the last. But it is a process that takes time, you have to adapt to everything, to your teammates, to the coach’s style, to the league because I come from England. It is a process that everyone goes through. There are some players who are lucky enough to arrive and leave the first game, and in my case it has cost me a little more. But I already feel much better, without doubting my work, not my level. I’ve continued to work with humility, and I’m starting to have more confidence and be a little more me, and now I feel much more comfortable.

And in the last games, has Diego Rico from Leganés been seen?

Yes, I have felt more comfortable. But I come from an injury and I hope to continue like this or better.

Was the one in Seville your most complete match at Real?

Yes, individually yes. And now what I want is to continue on that path of improvement.

Because I imagine that there is still a lot to see of Rico in Real…

This is an evolution. You have to go from less to more. And I feel that every time I feel that I am going to more.

What has been the most complicated part of Imanol’s style?

Your idea. I come from a very different league in which the game is played at a different pace, with the ideas of another coach. And the coach who has been here for many years with the same idea and you have to adapt to what he wants, and on top of that he is very demanding, and that demand is what has led Real to be so high all these years.

Is Real a team to put down roots?

Yes I think so. A great city with a great club that has everything to enjoy our work.

Can we talk about the Champions League or is that too much talk?

Talking is easy, but we only have to think about Espanyol. You don’t have to go too fast or disappointments come later. Hopefully you can look at that, we are ambitious. But now everyone is playing for something, and the games are more complicated. The key is to approach each game as if it were a final.

How do you see the team physically to face the last ten league games?

We arrived very well. This break is going to recharge our energy, and we are going to face what remains with great enthusiasm.

Is he oblivious to everything that is happening in the world with the war in Ukraine or does he look at it with concern?

Of course not. Football is when I laugh in this situation, the most important thing is to stop the war as soon as possible and help as much as possible.