The Athletic Club Expedition at Isla Canela

The Athletic Club Expedition got to Isla Canela (Cinnamon Island) on Thursday, 10 July and at 20:00 hours conducted their first training session at a pitch near the hotel. After a few minutes of running races Luis Llopis prepared diverse exercises for the goalkeepers and the rest of the team worked out with the ball. During one of these exercises Guarrotxena felt discomfort and had to leave the field. He will have magnetic resonance done on Friday. The next training session will be at 07:45 in the morning and will consist of physical fitness exercises to be conducted at the golf course.

Much earlier, the Red-Whites arrived later than expected, the flight from Bilbao to Faro Airport which should have departed at 12:00 hours did so at 13:30, thus arriving at Ciudad del Algarve portugués at 15:00 hours. From there the expedition members had to get on the Club bus to get to the Iberostar Hotel of Isla Canela, where they arrived after five in the afternoon and where numerous journalists, fans and curious people were waiting.

After lunch the players went to their rooms and, as planned, the 2008-2009 pre-season campaign got underway at 20:00 hours.