Alavés and Athletic are going to play a different match this Sunday. Both are going to face in an official meeting without an audience in the stands. Therefore, the derby is going to lose its fundamental ingredient: the atmosphere. Despite everything, the captain Manu Garcia He is confident of maintaining the good Albiazul streak in Mendizorrotza against the rojiblancos in recent years.
In fact, those of San Mamés have not won at this stadium in an official match since 2003 (2-4). Since then, both neighbors have met five times in the Albiazul fiefdom in the First Division, with a balance of two draws and three defeats for the rojiblancos. In the last derby played in the capital of Alava on February 23, 2020, a goal by Rodrigo Ely in the last gasp it served so that the three points stayed in the babazorro changing room.
This time, everything will be different. “It does not stop being an Alavés-Athletic, but this match is not going to be a derby, because without the people it loses all its essence,” the Alava captain sadly assured Manu Garcia. “It is what there is and we do not like to play like that, but you have to adapt,” he said resigned.
Whether public or not, the rivalry between the two neighbors continues. “We will have to do things very, very well to beat them because, as always, they are a high-level team,” he stressed.
React
As far as his team is concerned, the Gasteiztarra analyzed the usual delicate situation with his usual temperance. “A point at this point is little and we need to add to work calmly and be able to look to the future with patience,” he assumed.
“I always give great importance to scoring at the beginning of the League, before the first break, when the physical preparation is not yet adequate and the market is still open,” he explained. “We have a point and, although we could have some more, the reality is this, because the opportunities that pass no longer return,” he warned.
He differentiated the first three games with the last one played against Villarreal. “In the first three we competed and against Getafe we were close to winning, but in the last the rival was superior. We have things to correct, we have talked about it, and this should help us to grow ”, he pointed out.
He fled from scaremongering. “This has just started and there is a lot of league left, but we are aware and responsible. If we continue to compete like this and improve, we will surely win games ”, he assured.
Without excuses
He did not want to take refuge in the new drawing that he wants to implant Pablo Machin to justify the bad results. “We have already played with this system on this team. We are professionals and one hundred percent of the workforce has the capacity to adapt and the knowledge to do what the coach asks of us ”, he underlined.
He was dissatisfied with those who “now say that everything is wrong” and denied that this situation is similar to 2018, in which the team did not win in the first six days and seemed doomed to descend as bottom player in the 13th. “In that season we were much further away from scoring points in games and now the feelings are not the same. In the first three matches we have competed ”, he clarified.