Rayo Vallecano head coach Iñigo Pérez admitted that conceding a goal in the 89th minute against Girona left him with “a feeling of anger and bitterness,” though he acknowledged that the point added—pushing the team to 43 in the standings—was “good” as it brings them closer to survival.
Rayo and Girona drew at Vallecas in a match that saw the Madrid side take another step toward safety, while not solving the Catalan team’s woes. The point also condemns Real Oviedo to relegation with three games remaining.
“When you have it within reach and then lose it, you feel anger and bitterness, but it’s about adding points. I think the draw was fair. We would have liked to win, but I’m satisfied. I value adding to the tally, having 43 points, and being close to safety,” Pérez said in a press conference.
Rayo had the match under control until nearly the end, but Christian Stuani’s goal denied them victory. “Football has things no one expects. The game was tight, but both teams were alive. You have to try to defend until the end. Today’s situation is hard to defend because Stuani moves so well, and I don’t think this will haunt us like a major error,” he commented.
“The effort on Thursday was excellent, and playing today with fatigue and travel is commendable, meritorious, and an incredible source of pride. In the standings, we keep adding points, and the objective is getting closer,” confessed the coach from Navarre, who thanked the fans for their support in every match.
“It’s great that those of us at Rayo—no matter how long we stay—can see the mechanism through which the fans show you the culture you come from and what they need to feel proud. It gives me peace of mind because it’s one of my driving forces as Rayo’s coach. The goal is for them to repay a debt by giving us a final,” he stated.
Pérez, who as a player lost two finals—one in Europe and one in the Copa del Rey—with Athletic Club under Marcelo Bielsa, recalled how the Argentine coach approached those matches ahead of the Conference League final in two weeks. “With Marcelo, there was no difference between playing at home or away. He’s a person who always seeks excellence and perfection, and we lived the finals the same as the entire season with him. The consequence of losing the finals is that we couldn’t handle the competitive tension and weren’t the team we had been,” he concluded.