"They deserve the utmost respect" - Sociedad boss on facing lower tier side

Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil does not expect to have an easy match against Jove Espanol. He made it clear that the Alicante team deserves “the utmost respect" from his team, although he believes that, if they give their "best version”, they should win.
The match, which has been involved in controversy because of the date of its dispute, will finally be played on Thursday and the coach of the Guipuzcoan team did not want to look for excuses. He emphasized that "the people of Valencia have had enough misfortune with the recent floods” to complain about the date of the match.
Alguacil will enter this Thursday in the select club of coaches who have reached 300 games with Real and in which there are now Benito Diaz, Toshack and Ormaetxea. “It's clear that it's a lot of games. They are very important figures, but you don't live from the past," he said.
In that sense, he was asked at a press conference about his renewal, to which he replied that he has to earn it and that this means doing “what he has done in the last 5 years”.
The 'Txuri-urdin' arrive to the match with 13 players missing and 7 players from Sanse, young players that Alguacil knows well: "They were in the preseason and their talent doesn't surprise me at all. They compete very well and the year they have signed so far is very good”.
Regarding Roberto Olabe's departure from the club in June 2025, Alguacil admitted that “Real Sociedad will have a hard time finding a sporting director like him”.