Two different schools and the same conviction

Because coaches don’t see football in the same way, something that could easily be seen in the first round of the tie last Wednesday and throughout the course. While possession of the ball is essential for the Barcelona native, it is not for the Tarragona native. If one wants to get the ball played from behind and combine until they reach the top, the other prefers to be organized to steal and go at speed.

One and the other represent two different schools, although only one has rooted that of their club of origin. That is García Pimienta, a Barça B player between 1993 and 1996 – he played a game with the first team – and later coach of the Barça subsidiary between 2017 and 2021, although he also managed other teams in the lower categories of the club.

Ramis, for his part, began his career on the bench at Real Madrid Castilla, which he was promoted from Segunda B to Segunda in 2016. Before, during his time as a footballer, he had also played for the white club, between 1991 and 1994 – the first two years, in the subsidiary. However, with a few exceptions throughout the history of the white entity, he did not take with him the style of the king of Europe.

Vera’s words

The first confrontation between the two was taken by the Tenerife coach, although Pimi wants revenge. The UD coach wanted to convey the certainty that his team will get through to the playoff final, for which they must beat CD Tenerife (8:00 p.m.) at the Gran Canaria Stadium, which will have the biggest crowd in the history of the club. The captain said it as soon as the Heliodoro game was over (1-0) and so did the coach, who insisted over and over again in many of his responses that there would be a party at Siete Palmas.

Several sentences at the beginning and end of his quarter-hour appearance are worth summing up. «The only thing Jonathan Viera’s statements showed me was that when the game ended the players were already very excited for the second leg to come. I am convinced that things are going to turn out very well because the team is prepared and has trained very aware of what has to be done to win the game. I see the motivation of the players. We are psyched up and convinced that we are going to do it, ”guaranteed the technician, who considers that the appointment will have nothing to do with the previous one.

«It will be very different because we play in Gran Canaria, which will be packed. The other day there was a very cool playoff atmosphere, with 19,000 people cheering on their team, but we’re going to put in 34,000 – that’s 32,400. We are practically going to double the capacity that there was in the Heliodoro, so imagine if the game is going to be different, with dedicated fans from the first moment that are going to help us a lot », he argued.

And he added in the same vein: «From minute one to 90 we are going to go for the game. The fans are going to take us on wings. The goal is going to come, we don’t know in what minutes. We will be there insisting. We are going to get them, I have not the slightest doubt.

to his own

It is the conviction of a coach who knows that his team finally reached the playoffs thanks to a historic comeback in which they added nine wins and two draws in the last 11 games. He only cares about his team and protects the captain from the accusations that he has received in recent days from the neighboring island. «What they say in Tenerife does not worry me. Jonathan is an emblem in this club, he feels the colors and since he finished Wednesday’s game he was looking forward to tomorrow’s game », he commented.

Questioned about the style of play that Luis Miguel Ramis’s team used in the first round of the tie, he insisted that he was not surprised: “I knew perfectly well what the virtues of Tenerife are, a team comes out very well on the counterattack, which is very well worked, that at a defensive level is very aggressive, that tries to make many fouls because it is his way of playing and has led them to be where he is. For that there is the referee –González Esteban, the one who directed the derby on January 2 with a yellow victory (0-1)–, who is surely the best for the match. Wednesday’s game was demanding and the referee was up to the task. I have no doubt that he will be up to the task.

García Pimienta did not want to diminish the virtues of the rival and detected what his team lacked in addition to effectiveness in front of goal. “Analysing the match, perhaps it wasn’t the best on our part, but also due to the rival’s merits. With his public, being aggressive, with many fouls, going against it. He had his chances and he took one of them. We had ours and they took two goals from us on the line. At specific moments I think we lacked a little bit of ball speed so that they had to run more and space could be created », he explained.

That way, UD will have to improve if they want to go to the final for promotion. The good news is that the starting center forward, absent at the Heliodoro due to a muscle puncture, is available. “Sadiku did a part of the training yesterday and today he has completed it. He has good feelings », said Pimi.

The opposing coach

On his side, Luis Miguel Ramis also demonstrated the conviction with which Tenerife faces the visit to the Gran Canaria stadium with phrases such as “we are going to leave our souls”, or the warning that the Blue and Whites will not start this match with obsession to defend the advantage achieved last Wednesday at home.

In the coach’s message to the fans, he recalled that “some will laugh and others will cry”, but he wanted to make it clear that Tenerife will reach the limit so that the outcome is the happiest. “They know that we are going to leave our souls, that we are very convinced and that we have a lot of confidence”, he declared without forgetting that “this is a game and some will laugh and others will cry”. In that reflection, he highlighted the merit of having reached this point in the season with options to go up to First Division. “I will accept all the challenges that are put before us, and I take them on with great enthusiasm and with great confidence,” he commented.

Ramis assured that Tenerife will not go to the Gran Canaria stadium with the idea of ​​”managing any results”, because “Wednesday’s game is over” and there is no “feeling” in the blue and white squad that they will start with any advantage . «We will not go to Las Palmas to defend any result, but to play our game, to carry it forward. The tie is as even as it was before Wednesday’s match, because these margins, in professional football, don’t weigh anything down, so we can’t stop doing anything because we think we have a favorable result. We have to go to the limit, as we have done all season, with our characteristics and with our qualities, knowing that we will have a very good rival in front of us and with great potential. As the game progresses, we will make decisions. Logically there are multiple possibilities and we will have to take them as we go. There is a drawing, a game plan, we have a route, we have it very clear, but the game takes you to some places where you have to make decisions, and this will be no different, “explained the Tenerife coach.

On the other hand, he said that the manifestations of Jonathan Viera after the yellow defeat in the Heliodoro had no repercussion in the locker room. “We have not had a debate, we do not worry about discussing interpretations or statements by soccer players from rival teams,” Ramis settled.

In the second duel between the coaches, two schools are also measured. You will only win one.