Mel: "Adán is one of the two best goalkeepers in Spain”
Real Betis head coach, Pepe Mel, showed his satisfaction for the victory obtained in La Rosaleda Stadium.
Rubén and Adán: “It’s not easy when you play for a team like Betis to have scored seven goals so far, it’s impressive. But the team is not just them two. Between Adán and Rubén there are other nine players that have given everything they have today to get this score. We are still in Match 11, we still need to improve and focus on the next match. We are a consistent team playing away because our defects are less obvious. We close our lines and leave less open spaces, while at home we have to play with more players ahead. We don’t make good ball transitions and then we have two against two or three against three plays that kill us. It does not happen when we play somewhere else. We did really well in Gijon, Vallecas and Valencia and we got a very good result today.”
Rubén and Adán possibilities for the national team: “I don’t want to meddle with Del Bosque’s job. I’d love them to go to the national team because what Rubén does has a huge value. He was not only the top scorer in Second Division but, at this pace, he’s going to score more than 20 goals in La Liga. Even if it was for a friendly it would be the perfect ending for his career. And Adán is one of the two best goalkeepers in Spain, but is Del Bosque the one who knows what to do.”
Fair score?: “I’m tired of talking about fair scores. Málaga CF will play worse than today and they will win; and they will play better and they’ll lose. There’s no such a thing as fair scores, the score is what it is. Málaga CF played well today, they are good but the score is not going to move. It has happened to us too.”
Van der Vaart: “For me it’s like it was his first match because he played only a few minutes in the previous one and he wasn’t fit. We wanted him to play then to get the pace of the competition and it was a mistake because he fell injured. These minutes are good for him so he can gradually be fully ready. The worst part has been Digard’s injury but we think is just a blow in the thigh. These players, with their experience and know-how, are going to help us a lot.”
Málaga’s role: “They play well. Today they lacked that last pass. They work well the strategy and ball movement, their full backs go up with danger. They play really well. We have played together today, holding them back. We knew they were going to start strong, I showed the players the video of the match against Real Sociedad, when Málaga CF was winning 2-0 after just 12 minutes. Deportivo needed 25 minutes to shoot on goal for the first time against them. Our match today has an extra value because we were coming from a bad match.”