Montanier ‘hurt by elimination’

Philippe Montanier was left bitterly disappointed by Real Sociedad’s shock elimination from the Copa del Rey.

La Real, who were trailing 2-0 from the first leg against Segunda Division side Cordoba, could only draw 2-2 in Tuesday evening’s second leg, to drop out of the competition at the Round of 32 stage.

Montanier once more faced chants from sections of the Anoeta support calling for his resignation, but when asked of this after the game, chose to focus only on the 90 minutes on the pitch.

“Right now I am hurt by the elimination from the Cup and what you have heard against me is something else. I’m very hurt that we failed to progress,” declared the Frenchman.

“In the first half we were very close at that time to 2-0 and deserving to qualify. In the second half we encountered our problems and they ended up scoring a goal that left us broken.

“It has been a combination of Cordoba being strong and us being a disappointment. We came into this game with the mentality to score goals, but we knew it would be difficult to score the three more goals needed.

“In a tournament like this it is very important to score in the game that is played away from home. If we go into the second leg without that then we run out of room.”

Montanier pushed his players for a response next weekend.

“We are in a good run of form in the League and we will go to Valencia to win.”

Tags Cordoba Montanier
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