The captain of the Real Zaragoza, Alberto Zapater, assured in the first appearance of a player from the Aragonese team after the Christmas break that in 2021 “every game until May” for his team “is life or death.”
“We have to face it that way,” he said, adding that having closed 2020 with a win against Lugo “helps, even knowing that the situation is complicated and difficult.”
The veteran blanquillo player said that these vacation days are good because “it is always good to disconnect and forget a bit”, although in his case, go to Ejea de los Caballeros, his hometown, assumes that “everyone asks you.”
On the arrival on the Zaragoza bench of Juan Ignacio Martínez 'JIM', the third coach of the team this season, Zapater commented that he is an “optimistic, positive person, who transmits it on a day-to-day basis”, and who has arrived “with great enthusiasm, with great enthusiasm and brings that desire to work, the illusion for taking this forward. “
Zapater did not hide the importance of the first game of 2021, which will face them next Saturday, January 2 against Cartagena, a rival against whom they cannot be neglected, despite being “a recently promoted”.
“We are not going to discover the Second Division and its difficulty. Cartagena is recently promoted, which has had a bad dynamic and has changed coach,” he said.
“It will be a complicated game, like everyone else: you can beat anyone, and surely those at the top are the ones we all thought, but also any team is dangerous. It is very important to go for the three points. We need them,” he stressed.
Zapater stressed that the fact of playing without an audience in the stands due to sanitary restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic means that “now he hardly” sees “differences between playing at home or away.” “It is difficult for us to win in general, but I do not see that the determining factor is at home or away,” he added.
He also expressed his appreciation to the fans for the support they are giving them despite the difficulties. “We are convinced that we are going to take this forward together, and we are going to do it,” he said.