The
Levante
players
' eyes shine and
Coke Andújar
, one of their captains, does not forget his smile.
At 33, he is once again one step away from a final.
He never thought that with Levante the memories of the three
Europa League
with Sevilla or even the
Copa del Rey
lost in 2016
would surface
. In his mind the verses of
Leiva
, one of his favorite musicians, sound:
¡Do it! / As if already You will not play anything / As if you were going to die tomorrow / Even if you see it too far
.
Will history weigh in? Hopefully not.
We have worked to remove that pressure, to channel it.
This match and the possibility of reaching a final is a gift for Levante.
We are going to enjoy and dispute.
I can't find anything to lose. How is that pressure channeled? Through the coach, through the messages he throws.
We have to see this game as a prize.
The pressure has to be on Athletic, which historically reaches the final many times, it is the third time they have met in a month, and two have been draws to one goal ... I would not have chosen it that way.
The precedents count, for the good and for the bad, to enhance and to correct.
I anticipate a very tight match.
I would be surprised if one of the two won by more than one goal. Is there still the ability to surprise the opponent? It may be somewhat limited, but not only because of these frequent duels, but because Paco López and Marcelino have known each other for years.
There will be changes that can tip the balance, and that is what we have to know how to handle. He is, together with Raúl García, the player with the most experience in finals, how does he explain to his teammates that feeling he generates? I think they are already feeling it .
I try to contribute everything I can, but the fact is that, although it is not the first time, I am very excited to be able to do it with Levante.
The normal thing for this team is to play important games for not going down to Second.
It would be something very big for Levante to reach a final. He wore the bracelet in Sevilla and now he is in Levante, were you born to be a captain?
(Serie).
I was born to be in a locker room.
I have it clear.
There is no place where I have a better time.
Even at Schalke, who did not understand them, I tried to get into the conversations so that they would count on me.
I have a great time playing and training, but also in the dressing room with my teammates.
I know that tomorrow, when this is over, I will miss him. But if he is already preparing to be a coach ... I'm very afraid that he doesn't have to be anything like that. How much merit does Paco López have? A lot.
Due to the circumstances in which he arrived at the team, with a very touched dressing room and in free fall.
He lifted our spirits and has been creating a game identity that has served us to save ourselves well or on the penultimate day like two years ago.
Levante is reflected in that identity and now we are taking another step forward, and winning at Wanda, at Real Madrid ... In a week we got four points from the fittest team, Atlético ... We are doing beautiful things. From the age of 33, has all that been lived in a different way? Yes, but I am very excited.
I enjoy every moment of what we are experiencing, because I have already learned from experience that you never know if he will return. When you signed for Levante, did you imagine getting here?
In a team like Levante, it is normal that you do not have this opportunity and it does not have a cup tradition.
But it is the charm of a short tournament. Raised in the Rayo, do you find similarities with the feeling of belonging of the granotas? Yes.
It is living in the shadow of teams with more social relevance.
As in the Rayo, to those of the Raise that they do not touch theirs, which is an inherited, familiar feeling that they carry deep inside. Who first told you the history of the unrecognized 37 Cup? I think they were the president, Quico Catalán, on a trip to Barcelona, and the honorary president, Paco Fenollosa, who told us about the battles of that final and afterwards.
The club's Heritage department, with Emilio Nadal, is doing a great job to vindicate it.
It would be something very big for Levante to be able to claim it in another final. Some time ago you started producing theater, would you do it with a play about a modest team that is planted in a final? (He laughs) It would not be bad.
Hopefully with a happy ending.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
sports
Copa del Rey
Lift UD
Athletic Bilbao
FútbolSevilla - Barcelona and Athletic - Levante, in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey
Copa del Rey 2020 - 2021 Four games of sanction to Iñigo Martínez for slapping Sergio León: he will not play tomorrow in the Copa
Copa del Rey 2020 - 2021Of the scorer who challenged Pinochet to the blow of cancer: the story of Paco López, the normal guy who has made Levante gigantic
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2021 business calendar
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Barcelona - Seville, live