• Second round: Cornellà ridicules Atlético

  • Copa del Rey. Round of 32

Álex Talavera

(Barcelona, ​​1981) will complete the coming season for ten years at the helm of a

Cornellà

that, under his mandate, made the jump from Third to Second B and came to stay last year at the gates of Second A. His team showed against

Atlético de Madrid

that the cliché that ensures that there is no small rival in football can often be terribly true. He was a goalkeeper until an injury forced him to hang up his gloves, he coincided with Víctor Valdés in the lower categories of Barça and came to play with Jordi Alba in the ranks of a team he defended from under the sticks long before making the jump to offices. Therefore, he knows very well that giving another stroke will be very difficult. Although, of course, he does not throw in the towel ahead of time either.

Real Madrid, a few years ago, Atlético and now, Barça.

What does it mean for Cornellà to face the big three of the Spanish League? In the end, it is a satisfaction that also indicates that the line of work we have followed in recent years is correct.

Having generated the opportunity to compete against Real Madrid, Atlético or Barça is the result of the work of many people who have been silently working for the club for many years.

It is obviously a satisfaction, and also an opportunity to assess how the team is playing against professional teams. Atlético is still the most fit team in the league.

Does eliminating it show that everything is possible in football? In the end, a lot can happen in a game.

Yes it is true that in football everything is possible, but the exception does not confirm the rule, in this sense.

For a Second B team to beat one of the best teams in Europe, everything has to be done in favor of the Second B team. And that is what happened in our game.

The team played a very responsible game, the players were very involved for 90 minutes, they took responsibility at all times for their functions and carried out all the processes correctly.

We had the wisdom to get ahead on the scoreboard in the seventh minute and, afterwards, to endure the pressure of one of the best teams on the continent throughout the game.

They had several occasions, including a stick from Saul, but everything worked out for us.

Above all, at the level of the team's mental capacity to withstand obviously high stress conditions.

That this happens in every game is difficult.

So it doesn't have to happen now.

Many circumstances have to be given in favor of this, he came to play as a goalkeeper in the lower categories of Barça, where he coincided with Víctor Valdés.

Does that make this match against Barça even more special for you? First of all, all Cup matches are special, especially when you play with world-class teams.

That we have to play against Barcelona has a different singularity.

We are clubs that know each other a lot, we collaborate and also compete, both in grassroots football and in Second B. In addition, we have people who have passed through their ranks, such as our second coach, Jordi López, one of the captains, Albert Dorca, or, even myself.

There are different circumstances that make this game also have that point that makes it something a little more special: does Barça's defeat in the Super Cup increase your chances of digging into the wound or does it make you an even more dangerous opponent? , you compete against Barça, one of the best clubs in the world.

There is no excuse to think that we have a better chance of victory.

In the end, the clear favorites are them.

We have the field factor in our favor, but in order to get something positive we have to do everything perfectly.

In addition, the casualties that we have now make the approach even more difficult.

To surprise, we have to be mentally strong for 90 minutes, not to lose the ability to manage the game, because, if not, you can get six.

Each player must take responsibility for their task, we have to be very close together, manage all the situations that may arise and, with all the respect and impudence in the world, compete and enjoy what will surely be a great game. they will not be able to count on Leo Messi.

Does his absence make Barça a more vulnerable team? On a general level, obviously, a Barça without Messi is not the same.

I do not know if they planned or not that he would start against us, but it is not an excuse to think that we will have a better chance of winning.

In the end, they are one of the best teams in the world and they have enough category, with all the squad they have, to plan a game to win. Once again, Cornellà will not be able to have the support of their public in the stands.

Is this perhaps the worst of an opportunity that seems unique? We have had to live unique and extraordinary situations at the worst possible time.

For clubs like ours, competing against the best in the world like this is a very important grievance.

If we compare it with the match we played in the Copa del Rey against Real Madrid at Espanyol, almost 30,000 people entered.

Now, we are playing behind closed doors.

We are talking about stopping earning about 600,000 euros.

Obviously, it is bad news for the clubs that we now have this opportunity. That amount is roughly half the club's budget. Yes, indeed.

Regarding the workforce, it would be over 800,000 and, in total, it would be around 1,100,000 euros.

It is practically 75% of the cost of the first team. Can playing a single game and on a type of terrain that Barça is not so used to be an advantage? I would not speak of advantage, but, rather, of circumstance.

We are used to competing on our terrain, but they know us a lot.

It is something that we can take advantage of, but when you compete against Barça, it is difficult to talk about advantages. He came to the presidency of Cornellà at the age of 31 and next year will complete his tenth season at the head of the club.

Was your youth in this case an advantage when facing this project? The advantage, here if we can speak of an advantage, is having a very powerful team and very aligned with what you want to achieve in a football club.

Having people for whom football is a passion, with a lot of talent and knowledge in the management of sports entities, who know a lot about territorial football and who have been managing football teams for a long time, with a great capacity for coordination, that is an advantage.The Cornellà has become a widely recognized quarry throughout Europe.

What do you think when you see players like Jordi Alba or Keita Baldé triumphing in the elite? A job well done brings its reward.

We have one of the people who knows the most about football, Andrés Manzano, our general sports director, and he has managed to manage the whole concept of grassroots football very well.

And we also have Fernando Lechuga, the director of our school.

In the end, having a very talented team helps you achieve better results.

We are dedicated to training players and people, putting the integral training of the athlete in the main focus.

We build on that.

We have more than 1,100 athletes, we promote women's football, insertion football, we have a very strong social bond with the city of Cornellà and with society in general.

The fact that every year eight or ten players go to professional football, I mean all categories, including teams like Barça, Espanyol, Valencia, etc., in the end is the result of a job well done.

The Unió Esportiva Cornellà would not be known if it were not for grassroots football and all this work that all these people are doing at the club to make it one of the best both in Catalonia and in all of Spain. entity, is it dangerous to take as a model these players who passed through Cornellà or is it an even greater stimulus to achieve great goals? In the end, you have to know how to carry out a job of managing the expectations and education of athletes.

I believe in a complete training, in the sense that sports education has to be based on values ​​that go beyond what is just football.

Seeing players who make it to professional football is an incentive, a motivation, but it is not the only reason we train them.

In the end, the most important thing is that they train as people.

If someone is not a good person, it is difficult for them to be a good professional.

It is important that you respect the coach, that you understand the processes of the game model, that you be socially empathic, that you get along well with your teammates and that you be competitive, but also supportive. Is it hard to explain to the kids that the path to becoming Professional sport is not available to everyone? It is part of the discourse that you have to give not only to the kids, but also to the parents, so that they are aware of the reality of professional sports, of how professional sports move.

With total transparency, and from our experience, we try to explain to you what the process of training your child will be.

What situations will happen, that there will be better and worse moments and that, in the worst, the club and the family have to help each other to ensure the motivation of the kid, the continuity of the training and the athlete's state of mind.

I would not define it as harsh.

The work of a doctor, for anyone who does not have that training, from the outside, can also seem hard, but, for him, it is his day to day.

For us to be part of the training of many people and to have a positive impact is something exciting.

It is a complex task, obviously, but also very gratifying. What project for the future of Cornellà is the one that makes you most excited? We have played three playoffs, we have measured ourselves in the Cup with Real Madrid and Atlético and, now, We will do it with Barça, but the main work we are doing at the club is with a view to having a professional team.

Obviously, achieving this would be a very important milestone for all of us.

It would be the reward for many hours of work and a lot of commitment from many people, something unique for us, counting on the fact that, until almost two days ago, the team was in Primera Catalana, in the regional category.

On the one hand, that.

And, on the other, to continue growing at the level of training, to continue training young people who then make the leap to professional football and that our quarry has notoriety at a European level and worldwide.

For Cornellà to be a benchmark at those levels for us would be great news. How long have you been leading the club?

Has a deadline been set? This is a team project.

As long as we are excited and convinced that we can help the club improve, we will continue.

When we see that we have given everything, that we cannot contribute anything else, we will have to make decisions.

For the moment, the line is adequate and the team remains highly motivated to make the club grow.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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  • soccer

  • Copa del Rey

  • FC Barcelona

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