“We knew that Alba was fit and we need him to get some confidence back – I don’t think you could tell that he’d been out for three months”
“In general, we were good. We played a third tier side and we did so with humility and respect”.
In his post-match press conference following tonight’s win in Cartegena, Gerardo Martino explained: ““We did what we had to do – Cartegena were intense and never stopped running. They did really well for the first 20 minutes or so”.
The boss was also pleased with Jordi Alba’s return after the Catalan defender put in 80 minutes : “we thought he’d play for 60 to 70, and he stayed out there for 80 minutes. We knew that Alba was fit and we need him to get some confidence back – I don’t think you could tell that he’d been out for three months”.
For Martino, “in general, we were good. We played a third tier side and we did so with humility and respect. We were coming off two defeats and when we were behind tonight – and when we drew level- we showed that we were serious about winning – we knew we had to. Now we are in a great position to get through to the next round”.
Finally, Tata spoke of his front men tonight: “Fàbregas does the job of a false number 9, dropping deep, very well. Alexis, Pedro and Sergi Roberto give us good depth and penetration – they did really well”.