Jose Couceiro: “The atmosphere at San Mames is nothing but extra motivation”

Three days before the second leg of the Round 32 of the Europa League against Athletic Bilbao Loko’s head coach did an interview with the club’s press-service.

- After the final whistle in Lokomotiv-Athletic game in Moscow, which emotion was stronger: satisfaction with the victory or anger that the players failed to use lots of opportunities to score?

- The main thing is that we have won. Of course, in the play-off games it’s always better not to miss in a home game. But on the whole, I’m happy with how the team performed. It’s very important that we managed to possess the ball almost as much as the opponent. Athletic Bilbao is one of the strongest teams in ball possession in La Liga with the average number as high as 65% of the playing time. But we did not allow them to dominate so the final numbers in our game were almost equal – 47% against 53%.

I also liked how the Loko players performed after they missed a goal. The second half showed we have guts and we are not easy to break down. Yes, we could have scored more, but let’s be honest with ourselves: Athletic could have scored more in the second half. 2:1 is a good result and now we have to perform well in Bilbao.

- The third camp is really different from the previous two, it is clearly divided into two parts: before and after the game in Bilbao. What are other differences?

- In Gijon we are going to consequently decide two problems. First, now we are getting ready for the game against Athletic, and second - when we return from Bilbao, we will start getting ready for the Russian Premier League game against FC Kuban. We will mainly have one training a day, but some players will train twice a day. As for the friendlies, I don’t have the information now. At weekends all local teams play official matches so we will be able to play a friendly only in the very end of the camp – on Monday or Tuesday. And I am not even sure whether we need a friendly at all – half of the squad will go to their national teams.

- Why did you decide to hold this camp not in The Basque Country, but in the Principality of Asturias? To avoid extra pressure on the team, I guess…

- It was one of the factors we took in consideration, but the variant with the Principality of Asturias just turned out to be the best we had. Spain’s main football bases are in the south, but it’s pretty far from Bilbao. And here we live in a good hotel, hold training sessions at perfect fields that belong to Sporting from Gijon, and Bilbao is just three hours’ drive.

- Judging from the first game against Athletic your team is ready for the season.

- That’s true. Two Portuguese camps were just enough to prepare the players physically and now the only problem is to catch the rhythm. We are still to feel it, but I’m sure it will happen when we start playing regularly in the Russian Premier League. I’m sure by mid-March we’ll look even better than now. Although, it’s a common problem for all the Russian clubs that play in the European tournaments today.

- On Thursday, Lokomotiv will be playing at one of the “hottest” stadiums in Europe! Have you ever been to San Mames?

- Not as the opposing side’s head coach. But I’ve been there before, and the last time was yesterday (on Sunday – A.L.) when Athletic hosted Malaga. Needless to say the atmosphere is fantastic there. But I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for us. If you love football playing in this atmosphere is pure joy. And extra motivation.