Eder Sarabia looked toward one of the ends of La Cartuja before the match, his frustration evident. After Elche’s 2-1 defeat to Real Betis, the coach left the stadium feeling “fucked, powerless, and angry.” With the team sitting in the relegation zone on 39 points, level with Levante, Sarabia drew parallels to last season’s promotion fight: “We’ve been through this before. It’s like last season—similar injustices and all that. That anger and sense of unfairness we feel, we’ll channel it against Getafe, just like we did against Málaga last year.”
He focused on the disallowed goal by Grady Diang, which was ruled out for a handball by André Silva. “It’s clearly a goal. I’ve received messages from referees saying it’s a goal. The ball hits him in a natural position. If André had scored, it would have been disallowed. But when he made the pass, the immediacy was lost. It’s a goal—absolutely clear. You can’t make such a mistake when so much is at stake. It’s very serious,” Sarabia said, visibly furious with referee Isidro Díaz de Mera Escuderos.
According to the match report, that anger boiled over after the final whistle, with Sarabia shouting at the officials in the tunnel: “You are shameless, sons of bitches.” The report also noted that minutes later, the Elche boss entered the referees’ dressing room to apologize for his outburst. This incident could lead to a significant suspension for the Franjiverde coach.
Regarding the match itself, Sarabia acknowledged the difficulty: “We suffered, but it’s normal against a team fighting for Champions League football. We were superior in many phases, even with a man down. I understand it’s hard not to dwell on the result. Last year, after those two defeats against Levante and Huesca, we also saw things bleakly. But I want to tell the fans the team is fine—we show it on the pitch. We know the path and we’ll walk it again.”
He accepted Léo Petrot’s red card as correct: “It’s a mistake you can’t afford when fighting for survival. It cost us dearly.” On his substitutions, bringing on John Chetauya and Pedrosa ahead of Josan Ferrández, Lucas Cepeda, or Martim Neto, Sarabia defended his choices: “In the final minutes, we created fouls, corners, and danger. We pressed high and didn’t give them many chances. It wasn’t about the changes but what happened on the pitch.”
Sarabia also revealed that Buba Sangaré was substituted due to “hamstring discomfort” and lamented Aleix Febas’s yellow card, his tenth of the season, ruling him out of Sunday’s clash against Getafe. “We were thinking of changing him, but Gonzalo looked more tired. We didn’t overlook these situations; we considered them. Aleix was fine, but now we lose him. Someone else will step in and do very well.”
