“San Mames factor helps us a lot”

With only 24 hours to go before the match that all the supporters have been waiting for a week, Gaizka Garitano faced the press prior to tomorrow’s match (21 pm) between Athletic Club and FC Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey. The red and white coach has recognized the difficulty of the challenge to overcome “one of the best teams in the world“. Garitano has not given importance to the convulsive moment that the rival lives: “Barça is favourite in any match of Champions, League or Cup. It’s just as dangerous as ever because it has some very good players, but as I say we always have to worry about ourselves. To leave with intensity and not to leave them to play comfortably. They have a lot of possessions and a lot of quality, so we have to squeeze them up and hit them when we have our chances. We have our strengths and we’re not going to make it easy for them”.

The coach of Athletic underlined the importance of the support of La Catedral in an atmosphere that is expected to be historical: “Having San Mamés behind us is very important, it is an extra for Athletic. San Mamés factor adds up to a lot and the fact that the qualifying round will be a single game and at home will help us more. But then on the field it’s the team that has to get the fans on board, not the other way around”.

Garitano concluded with a message of optimism for the Zurich fans: “We’re hopeful, we’ve given importance to the competition from the beginning and tomorrow it’s not going to be less. We’re not thinking about any other match than the one of tomorrow. We’re going to give our 100% and the dressing room is looking forward to winning”.