Vicente Moreno, a native of Massanasa, believes that “possibly the League matchday should be suspended”

Football has been left in the shadows in the press conference that Vicente Moreno, coach of Osasuna, offered this Friday in Pamplona. The technician is from Massanasa, one of the towns in the province of Valencia seriously affected by DANA, and has not been able to contain his tears and emotion when remembering his family and friends who are there, admitting that “I have not been as more focused than I should” when preparing for this Saturday’s match at 2:00 p.m. against Real Valladolid.

Osasuna, whose sports director is also the Valencian Braulio Vázquez, has delivered with Braulio himself in person more than a ton of groceries to the Valencia Food Bank and has provided an account number in which the rojillo club and its fans can collaborate donating money that will go to the reconstruction of Massanasa, his coach’s town.

Before receiving the first question of the appearance, Moreno wanted to send a message to those affected, something that has cost him a lot when he emotionally collapsed as soon as he sat down in the seat of the red press room. “Then we’ll talk about football whatever you want,” he said before getting emotional.

«First of all, I wanted to send all my encouragement and solidarity to all the people who have been affected by this disaster and to all those who have lost loved ones, especially those in the Horta Sur region, where my town Massanasa is located. It is very hard for them, but for those of us who are far away and have family, children, friends and neighbors there, too. “You have to understand that it is being very hard not being able to be with them.” Moreno highlighted of his community that “we are tough and hard-working people, and all together, although it seems difficult now, we will get through this.”

He was asked if the league matchday should have been suspended, and he said “possibly yes.” We are not aware of what is happening there, I am in constant contact with my children and it is chaos. Obviously there are more important things in life than football, not that we are going to solve anything. Maybe playing can serve to distract people, I don’t know, but I’m looking forward to being there with my friends, my neighbors and my family, helping in whatever way we can.”

Beyond the qualifying ambitions, with the possibility that Osasuna can get half of the loot in twelve days to save the category, “for me the match is important because I want to win it to dedicate it to all those people who are suffering, especially to my family. It is no longer a professional issue, it is also a personal one. I am a person who tries not to show my feelings, but one of the things I will ask of the players is to be able to win it to dedicate it to all those people. It’s something minimal, we don’t do much, but everyone does what they can from the part we can, and even more so when we are far away. “It’s a way of sending strength.”