Real Sociedad’s Imanol Alguacil on keys to beating Real Madrid

Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil has said that his team will be forced to defend deep and press high against Real Madrid in their Copa del Rey semi-final., a side that in his eyes will create chances against whatever plan he puts togther. The Txuri-Urdin have been inconsistent in La Liga this season, but are alive and well in the cup competitions, with a Europa League clash against Manchester United to come next week too.

“I am happy because we are in the two semi-finals, the three big teams in La Liga and us, so the four big teams. We are playing at home, in front of our fans, probably against the best team in the world at the moment, which is being demonstrated, with a great coach, who I have a lot of respect for.”

“Even if you remove five of his teeth, I can tell you that it won’t affect him much,” Alguacil opined on Kylian Mbappe’s potential absence due to a tooth that had been taken out. However he was wrong as Mbappe has not traveled with Los Blancos, and will be one of several important absences.

La Real have fitness issues themselves, but Luka Sucic has recovered well ahead of schedule, and Nayef Aguerd will be a game-time call for Alguacil. However Arsen Zakharyan, after a brilliant goal this weekend, will miss out with a muscle injury. The Basque coach warned his side that they would have to do lots of different things to beat Real Madrid.

“How to beat them? We will have to do everything, against a team of such level you cannot always press high, sometimes they will force us to be compact and retreat. We also know that they are very powerful at set pieces, they are the best at everything, they create chances against teams that retreat and against teams that press, that is why they win everything they win. Of course, we will have to do it very well because, if they distract you for a minute, they will kill you.”

He was asked if the aim was for Real Sociedad simply to get to the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu alive in the semi-final.

“It would be great news, because it would mean that we have competed in tomorrow’s game, but first we have to play at the Reale Arena, because you can have a game plan and then due to small details things happen that you didn’t expect. But, depending on how the game progresses and the result, why not maybe we should think about the next one and that would be a great sign.”

Carlo Ancelotti had noted that Fede Valverde and Mbappe would have a chance to play at Anoeta, but both have now been left out of Real Madrid’s squad. There has been some suggestion that Real Madrid’s minds could be elsewhere, with a tight La Liga title race playing out, and a Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid to come next week, and there was little talk of Real Sociedad in the Italian’s press conference.