To speak of Aitor Sanz Martín (Madrid, 1984) is to speak of commitment, dedication and good handling of the ball. The midfielder pursues, in his ninth season at Tenerife, to fulfill the dream of being promoted to the First Division. A reference for the locker room and one of the players most respected by the fans, he still does not know what will happen to his future.
Is it a chore to play on Monday, or do you prefer it because you already know the results?
That it’s the last game of the day doesn’t matter a bit to me, what annoys me a bit is because of the people. Because on a Monday at eight in the afternoon, for those who have children or leave work late, it is a disturbance and less encouragement than we have in the stadium. We have to adapt because we know that the televisions rule and try to carry out the game the same way.
It was one more match for Sunday than Monday…
Above all for the people, so that they enjoy the stadium, that they see their team win, which is the important thing. But if it can’t be, you have to adapt to the situation and make those who can go and those who can’t enjoy it, enjoy it on television.
Still, an atmosphere is expected
Sure. People are responding phenomenally. We already had to enjoy these games with people in the stadium because they are intense and beautiful. If we can live longer until the end of the season it will be a good sign.
It’s just that Almería is a great team: Sadiq, Ramazani, Lazo…
It is a team made to choice. There are very few clubs that can choose like Almería does, with terrible economic capacity and we are going to see if we are capable of getting the game off the ground. It’s one of those nice games, that you like to play, that the fan likes to watch and the ones that position you and give you morale if you pull them off.
Is Sadiq the best Second Division player?
I don’t know if it’s the best, but it makes a difference. You have to be very vigilant because he has many conditions: he is capable of playing space, playing on foot. He is capable of generating dangerous occasions by himself and out of nowhere. Players of these are counted in the category. We will have to be very aware of him, but also of the rest because he has a great team.
What kind of match do you expect?
Due to the way they play, it is a team that likes to go up, press, they like to dominate… we hope that a bit, that their intention is that, but we also have our virtues and we want to take the game to our ground.
Do you think about the particular goal-average? There he lost 3-1.
You have to think about the game and take it forward. If then the situation arises during the 90 minutes of thinking about it, of course it does, but at the beginning we only thought about taking the game to our ground. During the game there are small games and that situation may occur.
The Aitor-Corredera duo takes hold and we recite it by heart.
It is true that we have played many games together, but we have a hyper-competitive squad and that is the good thing about this year. This one or the other is not, the team performs well and no one is missed. I think that this is one of our strengths and that differentiates us from the teams that are there, we have more blocks than the rest. We all know it, the coach too and let’s hope it stays that way.
Do you look at the referee? He is from Valladolid and in Almería he has not liked the designation very much.
The truth is that I don’t notice. The referees, beyond the fact that they make their mistakes, what they want is to do their job well because many things are also at stake, such as rising to the elite and for them it is a game that puts them in the showcase. The fact that the referee is from Valladolid will not condition the match at all.
Curious that Tenerife has such a good dynamic as a visitor. You who have been in the club for several years, what has happened?
Every year we set ourselves that as a goal, to get more points away from home and this year it is happening like that. I think that defensive solidity, that patience that we are having away from home gives us that plus and then we know how to take advantage of the chances in each game. In Gijón it was seen: we knew how to endure the first half, knowing that they would come out strong and that if the game went long we had a lot to gain. At the moment when we saw them falter a little we had to give the final push and that’s how it was.
This Centenary looks good…
Hopefully, because both the players and the fans are anxious for joy and we hope that it will happen. He was already playing and on top of that in a year as special as this one. Let’s hope that the joys continue to happen because in the end we are here for that, to give people joy.
Is direct ascent possible?
Lots of points left. It is true that the teams above are failing little, but there is still and anything can happen. Better to go week by week and when there are two or three left we will see where we are.
It would be nice to fulfill your dream of playing in the First Division, right?
That would be my dream, but right now I don’t consider it. I hope to do the best I can this year and try to be as high up as possible.
The round of renewals has already begun with Pablo Larrea. What is missing for Aitor to renew?
I don’t know if that will happen or not. Pablo’s renewal is good because he is one of the players to have in the squad, a super competitive boy who only thinks about working and improving the team. In my case, we will see what will happen. I work my best to be a solution for Tenerife and if there is luck at the end of the year, welcome and if not, to something else.
Do you see similarities between Larrea and yourself?
It is a bit the profile that was sought in that position. Both Juan Carlos and the coach want that type of player. In his case, he is a boy who will grow in the coming years and hopefully he will be in Tenerife.
Would it be a reward for you to continue next year at the club? It would be the tenth season.
I know that I have little left in this and I try to enjoy and improve day by day. If I find myself wanting and the club offers it to me, I will continue and if not, to something else.
Would that ‘something else’ be to start training or play in another destination?
The truth is that I do not know. It’s just that it’s such a nice year that I don’t want to think about it. It had been a long time since I enjoyed it so much that I want to focus on this, enjoy it until the end, squeeze it to the fullest because you don’t get many of these things in football and it’s worth it.
#Aitor #Sanz #hadnt #enjoyed #long #time