“We are satisfied because it was a very difficult game.” Marcelino was happy after Athletic's qualification for the second round of the Cup. A hard-fought qualification against a UD Ibiza that sold its defeat dearly. The lions did not resolve the crossing, via comeback, until the 91st minute.
“This has been a very difficult game. We knew how uncomfortable the match was going to cause us because the rival is a good Second B team, the data say that it is the best by far. He already scored five goals for Celta ”.
The coach of the rojiblanco team stressed that the difficulties already anticipated in the face of this match were added another that he did not have: “The synthetic field and the wind complicate everything much more”.
For Marcelino, in any case, efficiency prevailed over everything else and, most importantly, the objective of qualifying against a “very difficult” opponent has been achieved.
“We are very satisfied because defensively we are more solid and in attack we generate chances. Some good, good approaches, but the truth is that in the goal they are not completely finished ”, confessed the coach of an Athletic that under his baton accumulates three consecutive victories.
The controversy
Regarding the disallowed goal to the UD of Ibiza, Marcelino pointed out, according to an image that they showed him at the end of the match, that “the position of the Ibiza player indicates that he is offside.” The Athletic coach took advantage of the situation to emphasize that he is a VAR defender.
The coach, who wanted to take advantage of this meeting to dose efforts and distribute minutes among the less common players, finally stressed that Athletic was able to overcome a result against and that they conceded few attacks to UD Ibiza. “I stay with the work, with the effort and, with what else, with the result,” he concluded.