Speaking in the Camp Nou press room, Cádiz CF head coach Álvaro Cervera offered his thoughts on Sunday’s LaLiga Santander draw with FC Barcelona. “We came into today’s clash having not played the right game in recent matches,” he told reporters. “There’s quite a big difference between us and certain teams in terms of results and the players available to them, and we had gone about getting back on track in the wrong way. I believe what we did here is the way to do it; making sure we’re still in the game in the closing stages is a crucial part of our game plan and it was something we had stopped doing. This is the only way we’re going to stay up. There’s a massive gulf between us and Barcelona, and by following a different game plan we wouldn’t have had a chance of coming away with a positive result.”
Keys to getting results against stronger opposition: “We knew this was the only way we’d have a chance. When we come up against other teams who are better than us but aren’t as big a name [as Barça], we’re guilty of thinking it’s going to be different and we’re wrong, because they’re still better than us. I’ll be the first to take the blame for that. We’re not going to win games just by being better than the other team; we have to win games by making them worse than us. When we haven’t done that, we’ve been mistaken.”
Barça draw a step in the right direction: “We’ve now got a game coming up [against Real Betis next Sunday] where anything could happen, but we know it’s a chance for us to get ourselves firmly back on track. Today’s result will hopefully stand us in good stead and may mean I don’t have to say an awful lot to the players [in preparation for the Betis match]. The main thing is that we’re aware that we can compete if we play to our strengths.”
Support from the fans: “The sense I get from Cadistas on the street is that they’ll always be right behind us, but that this time people were saying it’s not only the fact that we’re losing – it’s the way we’re losing. We’ve picked up an important point on the road against a big club, and it’s the kind of result that will give the fans every reason to keep believing in us. We’re not a side of virtuoso performers, there’s no getting away from that; but we’ll give everything we have to keep this team in the top flight by playing our game. Coming to grounds like this and trying to beat teams at their own game is a matter for another day. I want the fans to believe in this team as much as they always have.”
