Colunga taking cautious approach

Posted Sunday, February 20, 2011 by PA

Getafe striker Adrian Colunga is adopting a cautious approach when talking about his side's European chances this season, even though they could be just three points off the top six if results go their way this weekend.

Getafe have climbed up to seventh place after picking up four points from their last two games, and with sixth-placed Espanyol having suffered three successive defeats, optimism will be starting to grow at the Madrid-based club.

However, recalling that Getafe, after an impressive end to 2010, recorded just one point from a possible 15 in January, Colunga is not making any brash claims about getting into Europe ahead of the visit of Racing Santander.

"It's better to be cautious as the last time we started talking about Europe we suffered a let-down.

"We have to take it one game at a time. Now we will try to get three points against Racing and then see what happens," said Colunga, who points out there are some heavyweight rivals for a top-six finish.

"Atletico Madrid (11th place) have stopped picking up points and Sevilla (eighth place) are also slipping down, but they are rivals who are expected to get into Europe."

Getafe's situation would have been even better if they had managed to hold on to their 2-0 lead away to Malaga last weekend, but they conceded twice in the last 10 minutes and had to settle for a point.

It was almost an identical story for Racing last time out, but, after seeing Sevilla fight back from 2-0 down, the Cantabrians netted a last-winner through Manuel Arana to secure a 3-2 victory.

That gave new coach Marcelino Garcia Toral a victorious start to his second spell at the club, and left Racing unbeaten in three games since Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed took over the club.

Racing have climbed up to 13th on the back of that run, and they are now three points clear of the relegation zone.