Viera plugs in the headline machine. Dialectical content industry at the gates of the mother of all battles. Now yes, the curtain rises on the Canary derby. Jonathan Viera Ramos, captain of UD Las Palmas, who faces his ninth Canarian classic -Saturday and from 5:30 p.m. at the Heliodoro-, took the microphone and left a carousel of reflections of interest. In relation to whether he considers that it could be his last classic, he is doubtful. Will the next course continue in yellow? And the temptation of Saudi Arabia? He spoke of the family spirit of this generation and compared it with the UD of 14-15. He acknowledges that there is pressure and criticizes the team’s decision-making when they competed in superiority against Lega and Andorra.
“I don’t know. My thought is no, but it is clear that this is football and anything can happen. Hopefully it will be my last derby at the Heliodoro because we went up to First Division and they, unfortunately, will no longer be able to go up this season. I cannot say to this day that it is my last derby. I have contract time left [tres temporadas más]. I am 33 years old and, logically, every time things get more difficult. My intention is to stay here much longer. But tomorrow, the truth is that I don’t know what is going to happen.”
He was frank and direct, in relation to the deficiencies that UD Las Palmas has shown when it has measured an inferior rival -as happened against Leganés and Andorra-. “It is a fact that it is costing us. Points have escaped us due to the haste of not understanding that the game lasts 90 minutes and that you have to wear down the opponent to find spaces. That is where we are sinning. We have to find solutions to get into defenses that close. The team has learned and will correct itself.”
The shark chase
Viera rules out that measuring a rival with ten is counterproductive. “We can’t analyze that playing against an inferior rival is negative, if they have two less, then better.” He assumes that UD, fourteen games, in direct promotion positions, is the rival to beat and they must live with the pressure. “It is clear that from here to the end the pressure exists. We have to learn from everything that happened last year [invictos en las últimas once jornadas]. We are managing things well. We are going to have to fight until the last game. We must give normality to what we are experiencing. We can’t throw it overboard.”
2015 versus 2023
He was questioned which team is more powerful, if the one that achieved the promotion of 2015 in the magical 21-J or the current one. A second promotion in yellow would make him enter the history of the club. “If I get this promotion it would be more special than the first [21-J de 2015]. For the time and years lived in my career. That team was not as good as this one, which has a lot of quality. This team right now is a family, although I’m not saying the other one wasn’t. The other was more of a dog, he knew how to compete better in extreme situations. They cannot be compared. I enjoy both teams; of that and of this (…) This year the most important thing is that no one is above anyone else”.
He applauds the response from the fans, who have flocked to Tenerife in the last few hours to buy their tickets for the classic. “It’s incredible. I’ve never seen the fans the way I see them now. They support us no matter what. This year people really like what they see of the team. It’s important that we stay together in bad times; that’s how you get things”.
Contradicts Nuke Mfuluwho assessed that he was facing the appointment without “revenge” for what happened in the last playoff. “I don’t like losing. It’s not revenge. I like to win every game. If they beat me then I want to play against them again to beat them. I always want to win, even if I’m playing with my son.”
