the truth hour has arrived. After more than four months without competing for the Covid-19 pandemic, Bilbao Athletic faces this Saturday in Algeciras the first single-game tie for the promotion to the Second Division playoff. Opposite is going to find Badajoz, who was also third in his group. In the ranks of the Extremaduran group militates Gorka Santamaría, the striker trained in Lezama and who came to play in the Second with the rojiblanco subsidiary led by Ziganda. He didn't have a chance to advance to the first team, but he can't complain about his later career. After leaving Lezama, he signed for Cádiz and then has played for Recreativo and Sporting B. He is now Badajoz's top scorer, with ten goals under his belt. The tip serves MD from Estepona, where they have been concentrated since Saturday.
How is the team after all this period without competing?
We are very good. Looking forward to this long-awaited day, we have been preparing for this match for many months. We are very excited and eager. We are super convinced and psyched that it is a huge opportunity. We have nothing else in mind that this game.
What does the locker room and coaching staff comment on the game?
That it will be a very difficult meeting. Physically they are sure to be very good because they are very young and will have legs for what is coming. We have to be careful because it is a team that travels a lot and does it very well. It has very important potential at the top.
Does the single match tie benefit more a young team like Bilbao Athletic against a more veteran team like Badajoz?
This type of tie can harm any team. Maybe you have had a good season and you go home or you play a very good game and you plant in the semifinals. I think it is more complicated because there is more margin for error back and forth and now the errors have to be minimal.
It is a huge opportunity for us. We have nothing else in mind but this game
Ascending is difficult because you have to win three games.
Yes, this express playoff formation has made it a little more difficult to ascend, but you are three games away from Second rather than six. You have to take advantage of it. We have been preparing all year for these meetings to arrive.
You know Bilbao Athletic well. What are its main virtues?
They are a very happy team, they try to attack a lot and go out playing. His midfield, with Oihan (Sancet) and Victor, has a lot of power. In addition, Victor is able to move and put balls behind the defense. This means that you have to pay special attention to those shipments that you can make. Above, Guruzeta seems to me a spectacular player, the most dangerous of the whole team. It can always be messed with. There is also Morcillo, who is the top scorer.
But Sancet is going to be with the first team …
I don't want to trust I heard Gaizka Garitano say that he was going to help the subsidiary in any way he could. I am not going to say that I prefer that he is not because if we have to beat them I prefer that they all be. We will see if it comes or not. We have to start preparing the game thinking that Sancet is going to be in eleven.
And what are the main virtues of Badajoz?
We are a team that runs a lot. It is very difficult to beat him without running more than us. In addition, we are a team that is capable of touching and reaching three-quarter field areas with relative ease. We are a very tough rival, who plays very long games and who always has a chance.
What will be the key to the match?
The key is to make fewer mistakes than the rival and the opportunities we have, to materialize them. We know that Bilbao Athletic will try to get out with the ball played from behind. My opinion is that they are going to make a mistake on the ball and we have to try to take advantage of that.
My opinion is that they are going to make a mistake in the exit of the ball and we have to try to take advantage of it
There was considerable controversy over the farewell made by the fans, which was even promoted by the club in a decision criticized by Health.
Regarding this, it must be said that we are not in a good time, we have to be very careful even though we already have some freedom when it comes to going out. We have to be very careful. Although they do not prohibit going to fire the team, maybe we should have kept the safety distance because today there are still a lot of regrowths and the last thing we want is to be confined again at home. What we have experienced is very strong, there have been many victims and this cannot be repeated.
He came to play in the Second Division with Bilbao Athletic. What was missing to make the jump to the first team?
I could not tell you. We did not have a good season in Second. The first lap was very bad and penalized us a lot. I think I went from less to more, I finished the season well. I scored seven goals, which is not bad for the first season in Second but it is true that it is not a spectacular figure either. We did a very bad first lap, we couldn't quite defend well and that took its toll. In the second we went in tow and we were about to leave the descent, but we did not succeed. We went down and I had Second A offers. As Athletic was not going to give me the opportunity to do preseason with the first team, I decided to leave. The year we went from 2nd B to Second it is true that by numbers, Sabin, who went up to the first team, and I had the same goalscoring numbers. Maybe they could have given me the opportunity to do preseason with the first team, but they didn't give it to me. I'm not going there. I could not enjoy that opportunity, but I did not go wrong either because I went to Cadiz in the Second Division and we ended up playing the playoff. I can not complain.
The Badajoz of Gorka Santamaría faces Bilbao Athletic and the Portugalete of his twin brother Ander plays against Basconia in the playoff for promotion to 2nd B. Curiosities of life. “That means that we have both done something right, at least this season, and that things are going well for us. It also means that in Lezama they are doing things well because their subsidiaries are fighting to be able to ascend. It is difficult to ascend to Second B. For me, shooting for home, I hope Portu rises, they deserve it and they have a very complete team, but the best team wins and the one who gets it will deserve it. ”