This has to be the lowest point of the season, losing 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey, even worse than the 2-1 defeat in the away leg. Celta are struggling in the bottom four of the Second Division but were more than a match for CDT. Poor passing, losing the ball too easily and a general lack of urgency and purpose all helped to humble Tenerife, there were schoolboy errors – maybe it’s time for a new teacher, coach Oltra chalked up his 100th game in charge but can’t seem to motivate the players any more.
Tenerife put out a strong line up, and there was a decent 13,328 crowd, so we were hoping they would go all out to claw back the one goal deficit, how wrong we were. Alfaro missed a good chance in the first minute but Celta soon put the pressure on the home goal, Garcia had to save from Saulo after 14 minutes. At times Celta had Tenerife pinned down in their own end and relying on some desperate clearances, Alfaro squandered a couple of more chances and it was all looking a bit desperate.
Tenerife looked a bit better starting the second half, but slipped back into sloppy habits. Omar continues to improve and made a great run down the left and into the box, leaving the ball for Dinei, somehow he managed to miss his golden opportunity, a signal that Tenerife were about to say goodbye to the cup.
Because of the away goal, Tenerife only needed to score once to go through and Celta could afford to sit on the draw. It didn’t look like that, Nino and Angel came on for CDT but both looked poor. Celta even went down to 10 men, Vasco got his marching orders for a second yellow, although his tackle on Omar looked fair. Time for a late Tenerife rally? not quite, Celta broke on the counter attack and Luna lost the ball to Danilo to score the only goal of the night.
Sad news reached us after the game, German goalkeeper Robert Enke (above), on loan at Tenerife in 2004, committed suicide on a rail crossing in Germany. Robert impressed with some great performances in CDT colours and went on to play for Hannover, he would have been at the 2010 World Cup as third choice keepr for Germany. Friends say he never came to terms with the death of his 2 year old daughter in 2006 from a heart problem.