Albacete coach reflects on working with Barcelona youngster at previous club – ‘He’s a competitive animal’ | OneFootball

In a few hours, FC Barcelona will face Albacete at Estadio Carlos Belmonte in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey.

After eliminating Celta Vigo and Real Madrid in previous rounds, the second-division team will attempt another upset and reach the semi-finals for only the second time in their history.

Speaking ahead of the game, Albacete manager Alberto Gonzalez expressed confidence that his team can pull off another shock win, having managed to down Real Madrid in the previous round.

Alberto Gonzalez on Fermin Lopez

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with MARCA (h/t SPORT), Gonzalez also spoke about Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez.

The now-Albacete boss worked with Fermin while the youngster was on loan at Deportivo Linares in 2022/23, right before he broke into the Barcelona first-team setup under Xavi Hernandez.

Gonzalez recalls the time he spent with the 22-year-old youngster fondly, highlighting how the La Masia graduate showed glimpses of his quality back during his loan spell in Linares.

“It was a real pleasure, he was a very outgoing lad who loved competing and learning from every training session. I’m not surprised at how far he’s come, but I am surprised at how quickly he’s got there,” said Gonzalez.

Asked about how he first got to know Fermin, Gonzalez recalled: “I saw his competitiveness when he was a youth player at Betis, a stage in which we both coincided at the green and white club, and later in some matches I saw with Barcelona’s youth team.”

Fermin played under Albacete coach Alberto Gonzalez at Deportivo Linares. (Photo by Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images)

That is why he accepted without hesitation when the opportunity arose to bring Fermin into his team.

“His name was put on the table by Miguel de Hita, who was the sporting director at Linares,” recalled Gonzalez.

“He told me that there was a possibility of having Fermin in our squad, although Barcelona didn’t want that because they wanted to keep him at Olot so they could keep a closer eye on him.”

Nevertheless, the youngster eventually arrived at Linares because “his agents wanted him to be with us because we had already done very good work with Melendez, who was from the same agency, and in the end he came with us,” revealed Gonzalez.

As for the main qualities of the La Masia graduate, Gonzalez highlighted one above all others, which he described as “being a competitive animal.”

“His dedication in every action, his desire to improve, to win… comes very naturally to him. And if we add to that his great physical, technical and tactical qualities, which he is refining every day…,” he concluded.