“The team has made a terrible effort”

Andoni Iraola, coach of Rayo Vallecano, did not want to excuse himself in the proximity of the Copa del Rey semifinal against Betis to justify his team’s defeat this Saturday against Celta in Balaídos, where his team conceded the first goal when he was with one footballer less.

“We have drawn the best eleven that we understood for today, taking into account that we had just played on Wednesday and there were tired players. We were looking to drown Celta with pressure from Santi. Now it’s easy to say that they scored a goal for us in the 11th minute, but it comes because we were down to ten. The team has made a terrible effort, nothing has been left out. We lacked the prize for the goal,” he said.

He insisted that the rival’s first goal came “when Unai was injured” and from then on “the match was even, we even have a chance coming from the outside with Álvaro, but his second goal already takes us a long way from the match”.

Iraola considered that referee Munuera Montero “did not have any impact” on Celta’s victory despite his protests during the match, and acknowledged that Unai López’s injury forced him to retouch his plan because “we had to delay the position of Santi -Comesaña-, who is very good at helping us with the pressure”.