本日、東京都内で「2019Ｊリーグキックオフカンファレンス」が開催されました。
— まいど！セレッソ (@my_cerezo) February 14, 2019
📸Ｊ１クラブの選手が集合し、フォトセッション。華やか～❗️
📸ロティーナ監督（セレッソ、左）とフアン マヌエル リージョ監督（神戸、右）は笑顔でポーズ😊😊https://t.co/0xG3YM26Hz #cerezo #セレッソ大阪 pic.twitter.com/epqptAyCcB
Spanish manager faces Spanish manager in the J.League’s very first match of the 2019 season. Cerezo Osaka manager Miguel Angel Lotina and Vissel Kobe manager Juan Manuel Lillo told Daily Sports their impressions about each other.
Miguel Angel Lotina knows Juan Manuel Lillo “from long ago,” he told the press ahead of the match. “He was already a manager when I started my coaching career at the age of 31 (in 1988). I have played against him in the third division several times during the early period of my (coaching) career. He is a hardworking manager who lives for football. His team always try to keep the ball and deliver a good performance.”
Lillo also looked back on the past: “It was probably 27 years ago when I played against Lotina’s team for the first time. Since then, I have had several opportunities to play against him. I have a very good relationship with him and I’m looking forward to playing against him in Japan.”