Unai Lopez: ‘We are going to play with one more’

Athletic Club has carried out its penultimate training session before the match that will open LaLiga Santander 2019-20 next Friday (9 pm) in San Mamés. After the training, Unai Lopez has appeared in the press room to shell their feelings before the league premiere. ‘It’s going to be a very tough game, but with Barça is always so’, highlighted Lopez. Although they may not have their best player with them, they always have great players and we can not relax for a moment. It’s going to be fundamental the concentration of all because in any moment they tie it to you with the quality that they have“.

The midfielder has appealed to the support of the stands as a key to emerge victorious from the complicated challenge: ‘We are at home and with our people and we will go for the victory. We have to go out and fight and bite and take advantage of the fact that with the support of San Mamés, we’re playing with one more‘.

On a personal level, Unai has emphasised her learning on the defensive side last season, when he decided to stay in the team despite not having many minutes: ‘The coach and the team-mates are helping me to acquire some defensive concepts that I needed and that are fundamental in today’s football. Last year? For me it was a positive season because I learned to assimilate complicated situations that can happen at any moment in a footballer’s career‘.

Unai Lopez also had words of affection for Ernesto Valverde, Barça’s coach, who returns to la Catedral on Friday: ‘We all know what he achieved in Athletic and personally is the coach who made me debut in Primera División. That’s why he’s always going to be important to me‘.