“It’s the toughest game of the season”

Gaizka Garitano has appeared before the press at Lezama at his usual pre-match press conference, ahead of tomorrow’s contest against FC Barcelona at Camp Nou (Tuesday, 23 June at 10.00pm).

The red-and-white boss defined tomorrow’s fixture as “the toughest game of the season. This is the feeling I’ve always had when visiting Camp Nou. You feel harassed and playing the ball isn’t easy at all.”

Despite this, Garitano considers the team are ready to compete toe-to-toe with Barça -second in LaLiga standings-: “There’s a beautiful challenge ahead of us tomorrow. We know it’ll be difficult but out of the three last clashes we’ve played against Barcelona, we’ve won two and drawn the other one. Playing at Camp Nou will be harder than at San Mamés, but we’ll try to do a good game and get a good result.”

The red-and-white coach will not be able to count on Yuri tomorrow due to his suspension, and neither Ibai Gómez nor Beñat Etxebarria will be available since they are suffering from muscle overloads: “The fact that a player can’t play turns into an opportunity for another one. I have absolute trust in all of them. Day after day, they are demonstrating they deserve to join in and they’ll have their chance.”