La Real went into the clash in shaky form, but triumphed 2-1 as Sheraldo Becker and Brais Mendez's goals sandwiched an Espanyol equaliser struck by Javi Puado from the spot.
Imanol said afterwards: “The team may be more or less fine, it may be more brilliant or not, but it is not lacking in effort. Today we were better than Espanyol in terms of physicality, which is a great achievement. I have refreshed the team, because there are many players close to their best version, I have made up to six changes, and I am happy with the victory. It would have been unfair if we had not won.
“It’s not the first time we were unable to make it 2-0, but I do value the team’s management. We weren’t in a hurry with their equaliser and then, when we made it 2-1, we also controlled the game well. I think we reacted well in both situations.”
Imanol continued: “You are going to be wrong if you say that one game is more important than another. I don’t even know what position we are in. We are wrong when we are fourth, fifth or sixth, you only see the short term. Once again I told you that we have to wait until there are five games left, then we will see how we are and why we are fighting.
"Now I have to focus on getting the best performance from the team by playing every three days. There are very few teams that would change places with Real, because there are very few that are still alive in the three competitions, even though we have an inhuman calendar.”
On their past inconsistency at home, the coach also stated: “It wasn’t fair and I told you so. I couldn’t find an explanation. It’s true that we didn’t play some good games, but we lost points without deserving them, I understood that it was unfair that they went away.
"Now the team is competing very well and the support of the fans is being important, which is going to be very important, because with so many games there will be times when we have the most limited batteries and it will be a bit more difficult for us. If we connect the team and the fans it will be easier.”