Javier Aguirre: “Cádiz showed us the way to win at the Camp Nou”


Javier Aguirre (Mexico City, December 1, 1958) He has just arrived, as he says, in Palma de Mallorca to take charge of ‘Mallorqueta’ and try to keep him in the category. ‘El Vasco’, who has won two games and lost another two, is fulfilling his goal for the moment, but he knows that there is still a lot to do. For example, visiting the Camp Nou next Sunday.

Real Mallorca, which is fifth from the bottom, two points above relegation, has, like several teams involved in losing the category, five authentic finals: visit the Camp Noureceives the Grenadetravel to Sanchez Pizjuanreceives the Vallecano Ray and ends in Sadar of Pamplona in front of Osasuna.

Will Mallorca be saved? Yes, Mallorca really wants to save itself. The team, the coaching staff, the board, the media… We all really want this to go well.

I assume you’ve studied the calendar. After Cádiz’s victory at Camp Nou, do you think 38 points will be enough, that is, two wins at Son Moix? I do not know. In the past we used to say that 42 was enough. And a few years ago, with 35-36 they were saved. At this point, the math doesn’t work. It works to try to play well, be united, not lose your temper and get points from all five games. The important thing is to stay in First.

Did you celebrate Athletic’s goals in Cádiz? (Series). Do you know what’s up? If you don’t do what you have to do, it’s useless for the other to lose. Today we depend on ourselves. There are occasions when it is not. If we do our job we will achieve permanence.

What template was found? A squad that came from ten defeats in twelve games and in many of them playing good football. They were puzzled, because there was no consistency between what they did and what they got. We thought of reinforcing this aspect that we have to continue along this line, that we have to believe in the team and in the teammate next to us. We go to shots and pulls and we are in the ointment, at least we have not lagged behind. We are 3-4 teams involved there.

You’re saying that Luis Garcia did a good job. I am saying that the team played well and did not deserve so much punishment. I know Luis and respect him, we have even met abroad. He did a great job, there is a magnificent base. There are people who play football well, but it happens that with so many goals conceded, they were very beaten. That’s what I found. They had a points deficit according to what they had done on the field.

It is the dictatorship of results. There’s no more. And more in the day in which we are.

“The only certain thing is that we had 49 goals against, that’s why I think the club decided to make a change”

Javier Aguirre / Coach of Real Mallorca

What has caught the attention of the club? It is a club with an important tradition in Spain. He has had great players in the past, also coaches like Manzano, Cúper or Luis Aragonés. I have found a healthy place, clean in every way. The two games in Son Moix have been sensational with the fans supporting. In the two outings that we have had, people went. Everything has gone very well.

How do you get the idea of ​​defending some footballers who have been thinking about attacking and having possession for a year and a half? Teaching them classification. “Do you want to continue like this? Look at this, 49 goals against and you tell me if we’re doing well or badly.” The best way to tell him was this. Then there are the whys. Bad refereeing decisions, specific details, bad fortune… But the reality is that the only tangible thing is the 18th place and 49 goals against. I think that’s why the club decides to make some changes. One arrives trying to do something to add and stay in First.

It seems that his thesis is Muriqui and ten more. She has played everything with you. Raíllo, Valjent, Rico, Maffeo and Muriqi have played everything with me. There are five and ten more, we already have fifteen (he laughs). Here plays the one who trains well. Everyone has had minutes. I think Hoppe is the only one left to play. There are five forwards.

Can you win at the Camp Nou or will you reserve starters thinking of Granada? Cádiz gave us the example, showed us the way, how to win at the Camp Nou. I won’t be thinking about Granada, we can’t do that. We have five finals left, we can’t think about the next one. Although ‘a priori’ we are not favorites of anything or anyone, we have to play the game.

Does it bother you to be told that you are a conservative coach, rather defensive? (He laughs) Do you think that something they say about me at 63 years old bothers me? 400 games in the First Division, I’ve been to four World Cups, three America’s Cups, the Asian Cup, the Africa Cup, the European Champions League, the Asian Champions League and the Concafaf Champions League. Imagine that what is said about me bothered me.

Do you read or listen to what is said about you? I don’t have social networks because I’m from another generation. But I do find out, which I’m not going to tell you how.

Of the more than fifteen thousand people who were in Son Moix on Tuesday, you seemed the calmest. As it does? He is very far from coaches like Emery or Simeone, who do not stop moving. (He takes off his cap) Look at the gray hair. There comes a point where, respecting my teammates, time has given me some peace of mind. What you cannot do is infect your team by messing with the referee, insulting, yelling… You are the visible head. If you are wrong, the bench says: open bar. It is an example for everyone to do everything in moderation.

“Me, conservative? Do you think it bothers me what they say about me being 63 years old?”

What leads a 63-year-old coach, comfortably settled in his country, to cross the pond again to take charge of a team in trouble like Mallorca? Good question. Because I’m leaving. I don’t see myself sitting on the couch at home. I’m not complaining about the equity issue. In Mallorca you live wonderfully, I didn’t think about it for five minutes.

Until when do you see yourself training? I’m not going to say it, in an interview I said that until I’m 50. My wife doesn’t like me at home, she tells me: go away, go away. So I do not know.

What is your opinion of VAR? I love it. It is fair, sometimes for and sometimes against. Where the human part already enters is the one that costs the most. I like to referee training sessions and they cheat on me. What’s going on? When the referee is told to go see her and he doesn’t go. That is the problem that already condemned me with Leganés. The referee, because of his pistols, said that he was not going. But if it is a very clear hand, the VAR told him. “Clear, but not punishable.” Tomato. When is it punishable and when is it not? The VAR saw hand. What are you doing there?

VAR has distorted football. Discounts are eternal. It would be necessary to see how the time is counted. There are referees who go to the VAR and in a second they are clear and others are not. I love technology, but I no longer enter human decisions.

Related news

He gives the impression that he does not like press conferences very much, that they are heavy for him.

This interview is already getting heavy for me (laughs). I am very talkative, what happens is that there are certain rules, but it is not good to spend an hour.


Leave a Comment