Jose Luis Oltra takes his team to face Real Madrid on Sunday but says he does not see a sad Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Deportivo de La Coruna boss is optimistic the Galicians can get a positive result in the Santiago Bernabeu but knows the main threat to that comes from Ronaldo, who he feels has not shown his ‘sadness’ with the club despite recent declarations.
“I see his statistics, his matches, and I don’t see someone who is sad,” said Oltra in an interview with AS. “If he did not celebrate a goal or he is sad then I have to respect that because I don’t know his reasons.
“If he had not said what he did then I don’t think we’d have noticed his sadness judging by his performances.”
Depor lost their unbeaten tag this season with a 2-0 reverse to Sevilla at Riazor last week, yet Oltra maintains his team will be up for the challenge of trying to stop Jose Mourinho’s men from getting what most people expect to be a comfortable three points.
“Madrid have not lost at home for 18 games and Mourinho’s teams are always strong at home, so it’s always tough to go to the Bernabeu.
“It is not the best place to go to come back from a defeat but we’ll be fighting for the win.”
He also feels that Madrid have no margin for error after their poor start to the season, particularly since the Spanish champions are eight points adrift of eternal rivals Barcelona.
“They have lost points early on and Barca have won all their games. In their respective feud they cannot afford to concede many more points, but to us it is not as important,” declared Oltra, who claims his team will not give up the attacking style he has adopted despite it being their first season back in La Primera after a one-year absence.
“It is a debate I understand and respect, but I don’t want to get involved in that. You will see a Depor that will be trying to win.
“For that to happen you need to be brave, which is not to say we will be go all-out to attack, but our style is not going to change much.”
Oltra achieved a draw against Mourinho in his time with Almeria but he admits it has nothing to do with what will take place in the game this weekend.
“It’s only a statistic and it doesn’t mean anything because they were different teams. It was a different Madrid and you can’t compare me to Mourinho.
“In that game we could have won but we also could have lost as Cristiano hit the post from a free-kick in the last minute.
“Mourinho has won a lot and is very good. He has won in all the countries where he has been and his teams are strong, well organised and have a definite pattern.”
