Ciudad de Logroño is playing for the European spot today. It does so in a territory as complicated as León. But the Riojans must not only beat Ademar, who this afternoon says goodbye to emblems of the club such as Juan Castro, Adrián Casqueiro and Santista. Also … It depends on a Benidorm that has absolutely nothing at stake to beat Granollers in Vallesan lands. Something unlikely given the dynamics of both teams. But this is sport and stranger things have been seen.
The only thing Logroño knows is that he is forced to win. It doesn’t matter if the result at the Palau d’Esports doesn’t work. The Franjivino are obliged to finish the regular league with a good feeling. Especially in view of the Final Eight of the Copa del Rey that will be played from Friday in Jaén. There, on Andalusian soil, the people of Logroño will play the last option of sealing the European ticket. Or wait for Granollers, the Riojans’ rival in the quarterfinals, to be a finalist, to make good on the fourth place they have held up to this moment.
Miguel Ángel Velasco does not want to listen to anything other than this afternoon’s game (5:00 p.m.). He made it clear to the players in training yesterday afternoon. The message was: «It doesn’t matter what happens in Granollers. “We have to win,” said the Segovian coach. “The League is not over and we have to go compete in León as if we were playing for Europe, which it may be, because you never know what can happen in another game,” he noted.
At the León Sports Palace you will find a team that started very weakly but has had a great second round. Especially at home, where no one has been able to beat Dani Gordo’s team except Barcelona.
The Ademarista team is characterized by a very aggressive defense with names like Popovic, Alberto Martín or Santista, and good goalkeeping in the Iranian Saeid Barkhordari. This generates numerous counterattacks that the white team exploits perfectly. “They are very dangerous in the first and second waves,” Velasco warned.
Aware of the history of close finals at the Palacio de los Deportes in León, Ciudad de Logroño’s objective is to reach the final minutes with options. «We hope to compete with them until the end and play a serious game. It’s not going to be easy because at home they have only lost against Barcelona, but we have to get ready to play a complete game,” said Miguel Ángel Velasco.
The keys to the match will be the goal, defense and withdrawal, which in this case will be important as Ademar is a team that uses the counterattack as its main weapon. «If we are good at the back, in goal and in defense, we will be able to run and play our game. And then, logically, we must control its first and second waves a lot,” said Velasco, who will be able to count on all of his troops except Edu Ortiz.
From the stands of the Palace, the training was watched by the next Franjivino left-back announced this week, Andrej Pergel, who this weekend visits what will be his home starting in July.
Unified schedule for the last day of the league
Except for two games that are not played at all (Huesca against Torrelavega and Anaitasuna-Nava), all the matches on the last day of the league will be played at 5:00 p.m. It’s not just Ciudad de Logroño and Granollers that are playing for something, in this case the direct ticket to Europe. In the lower part of the classification, Cangas, Cuenca and Puente Genil will try to fight for permanence and avoid the play off with a Silver team. The Galicians host Atlético Valladolid; The people of Cuenca visit Bidasoa and the people of Córdoba visit Sinfín.
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