Valencia manager Jose Bordalas has never been one to pull his punches.
In the lead up to the Copa del Rey final, where Real Betis will take on Valencia at 22:00 CEST, the supposed clash of styles has dominated much of the build-up.
It was certainly a them of the press conferences. Earlier in the week, Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini had said that Valencia would likely break the game up according to El Pais.
His opposite number Bordalas, didn’t seem to sympathise with that point of view, as covered by Sport.
“I find it funny that without even starting the match, they are accusing us of doing things that haven’t happened. With the objective of influencing the officials I suppose.”
Going beyond that, Bordalas even had a statistic handy to disprove the supposition.
“To me those comments seem disrespectful, out of order. They accuse us of interrupting the match. I’ve never made any comments of the sort about any opponents. In fact, Valencia are the most fouled team up until now. Maybe the interruptions are from other teams, not us.”
In his official final press conference, Pellegrini denied that he had been critical of Bordalas and stated that all styles of football were valid.
In terms of the team itself, Bordalas seemed content with their mental preparation.
“The team is not nervous, even if we are the youngest team in the league. They seem calm to me and well, now we are close to a final that we have been waiting for a few weeks. It will be difficult against a rival like Betis, who are having a great season with an incredible squad and who, almost, almost, playing as the home side.”
Bordalas is seeking his first major trophy as a manager, although he did win the Segunda Division with Alaves in 2016. It would be the culmination of a steady rise to La Liga starting 28 years ago, in 1994.
