Six goals in three games! What a moment of form goes through…
Yes, the truth is that things are going well individually and, above all, collectively and we must try to continue on this streak.
What has happened to you in those four and a half months in which you have not scored or beat your markers?
When you spend moments like this, you give everything a lot of thought, but in the end all the work we’ve been doing in those months comes to bear fruit. It is not that he has been training well for four weeks, he had already been doing it. I have always continued to trust in the process, I have continued to take great care of myself and now the fruits are coming out and I was able to put all my potential at the service of the team.
Did he doubt?
It’s normal for you to have doubts, I came from a renewal in which the club showed confidence and when I had to not be a starter, I respected it, I took care of myself with food, that all the small details count so as not to lose you. Now, when everything is going well, it is very easy, but it is when things go wrong that the player has to take a step forward and have a good mind. You have football, but sometimes your mentality loses you.
Did splicing a two-week sanction with a COVID infection affect you?
No, no…, but when I came back it’s true that the team was doing well, the other forwards too, and at that moment you want to show, you get stuck and you want to do more. Sometimes, a talk with the coach is what relaxes you and you realize that everything is mental and that the player who started the season at a good level is there and they just have to find each other and that with the help of the team it is possible .
With this shot, Cedric scored the winning goal over Zamora in minute 92′.
Nacho Cubero (AS)
Last year he came out of a bad game and was especially grateful for the help of the psychologist, Manzanares. Now there is also a mental component in your improvement?
No, well, in the end it all has to do…, but it is true that I have benefited a lot from the game because now we have advanced the pressure quite a bit. In the first lap we respected our rivals a lot and now it’s like we disrespect them, in the good sense of the word.
Explain…
Now we are going for them, to try to overwhelm them being very aggressive from the beginning and trying to look forward all the time and the people above have favored us. I think Pablo feels more comfortable, all of us at the top feel more comfortable and more protagonists and in that I have benefited. We have to try to continue like this, because we have found the key to this end of the season and it can give us a lot of joy.
Do you think that this greater aggressiveness is the key to the good general moment of Racing?
Yes, in addition to the good mental and physical moment of the team. It is not the same to recover 25 or 30 meters from the rival goal than to do it 60.
That was quite clear against Real Unión, Cultural or Zamora…
I remember that when the rivals talked about us they said that we were a team that waited behind, that they hoped that someone from above would have an inspiration…, and now they see us as a winning team, that presses up high, that goes for the game from minute one. That means that when the teams come here, if they see that in the first ten minutes the home team, with their fans, has already had three or four clear chances, it makes them doubt their game plan. And that is thanks to the work we do when it comes to pressing.
Will not being able to count on Pablo Torre condition their way of attacking?
Of course it conditions you not to have a player who gives you a lot, another teammate will play, with a different profile and we will all have to acclimatize. It’s a significant loss, but we’re where we are thanks to the team and not just one player.
Do you think the promotion can escape them?
It is clear that it depends on us. How we face the games, starting with Sunday and from there, see. It is difficult for strange things to happen, but they can happen. We have traced back six points to Depor, why can’t they do it? The dream is close and it is worth it that we are all more united than ever because the goal is very beautiful. We have to beat the SD and then see what Depor does.
What do you expect from the people of La Rioja?
In the first round they deserved much more and we have a lot of respect for them because they play football very well, because they have several former Racing players who will want to prove it… there are those who believe that the most difficult thing comes later, but in the locker room we know that the toughest match of the nine is next. And so it will be every week.
Soko and Cedric, sharing confidences in training this morning.
Nacho Cubero (AS)