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Levante captain Vicente Iborra and Eibar goalkeeper Luca Zidane open up exclusively to Pulse Sports on the struggle to gain promotion to La Liga through the playoffs.
The 2022/23 La Liga 2 season has come to an end with Granada and Las Palmas sealing automatic promotion to the top flight while four more teams will compete for the last spot through the playoffs.
Levante, Alaves, Eibar and Albacete are the teams who finished the regular season as third, fourth, fifth and sixth respectively to earn a place each in the La Liga Smartbank promotion playoffs.
Levante captain Vicente Iborra and Eibar goalkeeper Luca Zidane discussed the playoffs exclusively with Pulse Sports ahead of the showpiece.
Vicente Iborra happy with the playoff system
Despite his Levante team finishing the season third which would have earned them direct promotion to La Liga without the playoffs, Iborra defended the current system.
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"Well, I think the system allows more teams to be able to play to achieve their ambitious objectives which is promotion to the first division it means, that more teams can be involved right till the end," Iborra said.
The 35-year-old continued "I think it's also like a prize or an award for the teams who have been playing regularly though out the season they've been in the top positions in the table, anything can happen though. You experience times when there's a lot of pressure on you and a lot of expectations and you can experience lots of different situations."
"And what happens in the playoffs is not necessarily a reflection of what's happened all season, but to keep more teams really involved right till the end with the objective of being promoted to the first division at the end of the season, I think it's fair," - the Spanish midfielder emphasised.
The former Sevilla, Villarreal and Leicester City midfielder added some more context while speaking exclusively to Pulse Sports, admitting that the playoff can have an adverse effect on the players.
"For the players, it's difficult because it means the season is longer but I think for fans, if you look on from the outside I think it's something very attractive, I think the system is fair to maintain more teams to be fighting towards the end to be promoted to the first division" Iborra rounded up.
Luca Zidane shares thoughts on promotion playoffs
Eibar goalkeeper Luca Zidane also made his stance on the playoff system known to Pulse Sports, sharing Iborra's optimism.
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"I think that the system is well done, it's well-organized cos there are more teams who can fight to be promoted to the first division which is a really good time for the fans and for everyone who loves football so I think it's a good system that makes you fight right to the end to be promoted. " Zidane said.
Luca, the son of the legendary Zinedine Zidane is in his first season for Eibar after joining the club as a free agent from Rayo Vallecano.
The 25-year-old continued to stress the importance of the playoffs, "for these four teams, I think it's a very important moment of the season and I think it's a good thing."
25-year-old Luca started his career at Real Madrid, the club of his legendary father and after spending time with Castilla, he left to spend two years at Rayo Vallecano and now he aims to gain promotion to La Liga with Eibar.
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