Chimy Ávila and the match against Copenhagen: “We are twelve against eleven”

Regarding his celebration, the Argentine explained that he went to Adrián San Miguel because they are neighbors and have become very good friends: «Adrián helps me on a daily basis and we have become very good friends. “We are neighbors and he knew what I was thinking when I was on the bench, when the coach took me out and how they received me there… Adrián’s experience helps me a lot.”

The Betic player returned to El Sadar, the stadium that was his home until last January, where he was not very well received last Saturday: «The game for me is a fishbowl. I worry about what I have to do, what I can contribute to the team and using the tools that the coach gives me. I made a fish tank and the outside… Obviously, sometimes you get involved in some things, but you get in because your family is in the stands, but I went out to play a normal game and with the confidence that the coach and the teammates gave me. “They were on the bench.”

And he added: «Thousands of sensations crossed my mind. Suddenly I’m hearing the insults from the Osasuna fans, which is already over in my mind. I leave it closed. But I want to emphasize the sound that comes to me at that moment, ‘Chimy is one of us’. It’s like when you drive an electric car and the battery doesn’t arrive. Suddenly, it gives you that plus and that’s what the Betis fans generated for me at that moment.

Furthermore, Chimy Ávila told an anecdote about the shin guards he used in Pamplona on Saturday: «Isco was treating himself, with the boot on his foot, and he took off two foam pads. I said, ‘Isco, what is this?’ And Pepe, the physio, jumps in, this is from the boot, and I say ‘I can use the shin guards, magic was on Isco’s left foot’. Blessed. That’s the shin guard he was carrying in his hand. I scored with my left foot, no one can take that away from me.”

For Chimy, the victory in Pamplona is the beginning of the path that Betis wants to take: «We all win together and it’s a familya team… A victory was possible, which we needed. And now leave the past behind, the mistakes… take out the positive things to amend them and move forward.”

Besides, the Betic has been critical with what the team has done so far: «Hopefully it will be the start of a nice journey. The further the plane goes, the better that is. Now we have to add on a daily basis, we are hurt by what we have done wrong. The coach gives us the tools, the fans the encouragement and we are the ones who have the responsibility. This time we understood what the coach and the people asked of us. “We are the first ones who needed a victory.”

Betis will host Copenhagen next Thursdaythe toughest rival he has faced in this phase of the Conference League: «It’s not an easy game, but no game is.. The rivals also know what Betis is, everyone wants to beat them, everyone makes your job difficult. What we have to do is capture what the coach wants. Nothing is done, it is time to start manufacturing the walls and do it in the best possible way. Copenhagen is not easy but everything will depend on us.

Furthermore, the player has been convinced of the team’s secret weapon: “We are twelve against eleven. The fans are going to push and It is not easy for any team to come here with 50,000 or 60,000 people that Benito Villamarín always puts in. It is a plus that will help us, any team that comes to this stadium finds it difficult against the people and against us.”

Regarding the use of two forwardsa system change that Pellegrini made against Osasuna, Chimy has only had praise for the coach and his way of approaching matches: “It seems very crazy, but the last time I played as a double striker was in Huesca and the truth is which surprised me the other day. I felt comfortable and thought it was my match. We saw it and said okay, let’s move on. The coach is a very intelligent personbecause I knew that I could beat the centre-backs in speed and the engineer always pulls an ace out of his sleeve.”

Likewise, the player has reviewed his arrival at Betis and the reasons that pushed him to leave Osasuna to end up in the city of Seville: «I liked everything about Seville and Betis. The sun, coming to the Betis stadium and feeling that murmur of the people. It reminds me a lot of South America and Argentina.many things came together and I feel very happy here. “I have no roof and as long as I have the opportunity I will be defending the colors of Betis.”

Regarding his stay at the club, Chimy has assured that it is “a very nice challenge”: “I can’t complain, it is clear that it is a big club. It demands you for the better and for me it is all new. I have always been in lower teams and Betis takes you to compete in a big way. It is a very nice challenge and when I entered it was a reality check. I thought ‘if it’s a dream, don’t wake me up and if it’s true, I have to work to be 100%’. I think that little by little we are going to achieve the objectives we set.

Finally, the Argentine has acknowledged that he takes mistakes very personally: «Everything has touched me, I have sold scrap metal, I have been a painter, a bricklayer like my father… I’ve done everything, so when things don’t go well, I take it very personally.. I talked about it with the coach, I explained to him that since it has taken me so long to get where I am, I take it very personally when something doesn’t go well. I understand that when the coach changes me he looks for the best, but there is something internal that changes my head. “I go crazy thinking about what I didn’t do right.”