Real Oviedo Head Coach Cuco Ziganda today appeared in the Press Room at El Requexón ahead of Sunday's game against Mallorca.
As is the norm, the Gaffer began by discussing the players who would be missing for tomorrow's match at the NMR Carlos Tartiere. He explained that "Tejera is continuing with his recovery and won't be back for this week. Carlos (Hernández) has trained with the squad. He won't be ready to start, but we will have him available if we need him. Grippo has trained one day with the team and we don't know if he'll make it. They have all progressed and we hope to have them all available for next week."
The first match of 2021 will bring Los Azules up against one of the teams that is up at the top of the table. Discussing how Real Oviedo will approach the match, Ziganda highlighted it as "a very important challenge. We know the quality Mallorca have and we have some key players out. That makes it more difficult, but we have a deep squad. They are all working to play. It's an opportunity for everybody and a chance for us to see the squad we have. There is a lot of motivation for them. After a few days with our families we have come back with a good attitude, with energy, and we are training well. We are prepared mentally and tactically, and we have to
back to playing as we did in recent months. We have to believe in the team's strengths and get after Mallorca."
Asked about the signing of Borja Valle, the Coach highlighted that "you know him. We know he can play in any of the forward positions. Borja is a player who is going to add something for us, he will give us quality. He is experienced and he knows this environment." In addition, taking about the possible arrival of further players, Ziganda admitted that "Arnau and I talk every day and we have the same opinion. We have the squad we have, we
happy, and that's what we have to focus on."
Finally, asked about the situations of Mujica and Aburjania, the Coach stated that "Rafa does want to leave, but I haven't been told anything about Aburjania. There are no particular reasons as to why they haven't played much, but we have 25 players and they can't all play. You try to be as objective as possible. There is no problem with them, neither on a personal nor on a footballing level, but you can only choose so many players. The cup is now coming up and they will have the opportunity to feel like footballers again."