Albert Riera She is a happy person. His face lights up when he speaks to OKDIARIO to talk about his passion: football. He breathes football from all sides. With virtually no time to digest the league defeat against Ljubljana Olympic Stadium of his compatriot Victor Sanchez del Almoof whom he is proud of his team’s conception of football, the daily life so present in his way of life brings him back to Spain.
Momentarily, because his team, the Celje Slovenian, up there Seville to face Betis in the Conference League. “I can’t change the style and identity of my team because we don’t know anything other than wanting to be dominant. Against Betis we will have to suffer, I have already prepared the players. The atmosphere, the stadium… It’s a team that also likes to have the ball. There will be times that we will have to endure. If we give them the ball, we give them comfort, so let’s go for it. “Trying to make the game less comfortable for them and that involves having the ball,” he explains.
Coach Riera’s career cannot be understood without Slovenia. He first directed the Ljubljana Olympic Stadiumwith whom he won the League and the Cup, and now Celje. Although with a dead end of a season that took the reins of the Girondins de Bordeaux. The institutional crisis that led the legendary French club to lose the professional team category made it return to the Celje group.
Riera is a student influenced by all types of coaches. From the most emotional to the most tactical. Luis Aragonés, Fatith Terim, Rafa Benítez, Roberto Mancini or Ernesto Valverde. “No two coaches are ever the same. It’s about growing and learning, but never copying. If I transmit something that is not mine… You have to be yourself,” says Riera, who works as a teacher in Celje after following the RFEF coaching course alongside Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Rául and Marcos Senna.
Betis hosts Celje in a moment of European concern. Pellegrini’s men, boosted by victories like against Atlético, are staggering outside our borders. Heading into this game, they are out of playoff positions after being tied with the Copenhagen and falls against him Warsaw Legion.
“I paid attention to the match against Atlético, Copenhagen, Warsaw… But each match is different. We have to wait for the best version of Betis because you have to prepare the game as if it was going to be as difficult as possible. Of all the good things they can do, you have to hope that they can do it and prepare for it. I prepared my team for difficult situations, but also how to beat Betis. We trained for the players to have confidence and think “if we do this we can hurt them”. “It’s a team with a budget 15 times greater, but I don’t understand football any differently,” he emphasizes.
Celje rises in a Benito Villamarín whose powerful and energetic atmosphere makes it one of the hottest calderas in Spain. laugh, interventional technician Wherever they exist, they have prepared their players for what they will encounter on and off the field of play. “When they see the stadium for the first time, I will tell them an anecdote and I will tell them that their coach already won here, so they can relax,” he reveals.
“The stadium is narrow, we know how they experience it. I prepared my players to feel this pressure, because we usually play against fewer people on the pitches in Slovenia. Let them see it as something beautiful, motivating. They have a task the day before the match. I told them to fall asleep watching a game with lots of people and noise.. Put on your headphones and feel it, because this is what awaits you. This noise should be motivating and pleasant to them. These facets must be worked on with the players. Few have experience in Europe, but I see them with confidence,” he says.
Riera’s career, beyond this Thursday’s stopover in Seville, has not yet definitively arrived in Spain. “I like watching football. Where will I go after Celje? Where I deserve it and when I deserve it. You have to earn credit. In professional football you have to win, it’s very important, but you have to win. Spain is my country and where I see myself“Although I also think that my way of working would adapt well to the Netherlands, Belgium and especially Germany,” says Riera, a coach based on merit, work and constant evolution.
