Real Oviedo full back, Guillermo Cotugno, appeared in the Press Room this morning following the team’s training session at El Requexón.
Having returned to the starting eleven on Sunday against Granada in place of the suspended Johannesson, the Uruguayan defender declared his happiness at the team’s victory, saying, “it was a hard-fought victory in a tough match. They needed to win too. Luckily, we managed to get the win in a very difficult match in which both teams were going for the three points.”
The team desperately needed to win, both for points and for morale, and Cotugno admitted that, “if we hadn’t done it then the teams above would have got away from us a bit. It is vital to take it one game at a time and get the three points.”
Returning to the starting line-up after missing quite a lot of matches, Cotugno pointed out that, “training at a good level and playing practice matches against the B team each week gives us the fitness to be at 100% when we are called upon to play.”
Asked about the players in the youth team and Steven’s role, the defender commented that, “it is clear that they are at our level. They compete with us every week and it meant we got three points this week.”
With respect to the Granada match, Cotugno commented that, “we had a strange situation with both strikers missing, but Aarón and Steven did very well, and the team was able to adapt to what the game demanded of us. We emerged stronger in the second half, and I think that in every match you have good and bad periods. We need to have the strength to defend well in the periods when we aren’t keeping the ball well. The match lasts ninety minutes and we have to fight until the last minute.”
Finally, regarding the next opponent, which is a Córdoba side in good form, Cotugno said that, “they are playing for their lives. They have had four consecutive wins and we are going to battle with a very strong opponent who are on a good run. We are going to play for our lives there,” he concluded.
