Ceuta’s Sporting Success Story
Edu Villegas is living a dream in Ceuta, a sort of “Fairy Tale,” after managing to get the two main club teams into their respective promotion playoffs, “something within reach of very few,” he recalls on Cadena SER. The first team will face Nástic on Sunday, while the reserve team will play against Xerez DFC on Saturday. What has been achieved so far is not a coincidence, “it is thanks to the work of the entire coaching staff, but it is true that it is a dream, for the city that is fully committed to us, because we are in the spotlight and for the fans, who are enjoying like never before.” He acknowledges that “when we started planning the season, we did not expect this ending, but what we did was to create two competitive teams that would accumulate the highest possible number of points, and that’s how it has been.”
In the first promotion playoff against Ciudad de Lucena, the team excelled in the match held in Córdoba, giving a real lesson to their rival, whom they defeated 0-4: “It was a spectacular tactical and physical display. It is a young team but with hungry people. I tell the players to really show that they want to aspire to the first team and that this is achieved in training and in every match. I ask them to dream and be professionals. I had faith in this team, even when we drew in the first leg.”
The Jerez-born manager hopes that Ceuta B continues to show strength in this final stretch of the season, but he knows it won’t be easy, “because we are a reserve team and that must be taken into account, but if we are at the same level, Xerez DFC will have a hard time in the final match, although it is true that now, in a way, we already feel the pressure.”
He sees Saturday’s opponent as “very good, I knew they would end up playing the play-off. At the beginning of the league, they were not up to par, but in the second half, they have done an excellent job, with a spectacular level. They are ready to be promoted,” he maintains.
He assures that he will not have a divided heart on Saturday, “I owe myself to Ceuta,” and he recalls his brilliant period at Xerez DFC, whose results “are there, but despite everything, due to the circumstances that we already know, I had to leave the club and I did it forgiving my severance pay, but hurt because I had to leave my home and my family here. Someday, if I get heated, I might talk about it, although that’s in the past, now the luck I’ve had is that in Ceuta, they have treated me like at home, I have no words of gratitude for this club and its fans.”