Garitano: “There’s no fatigue, we’re focused on beating Huesca”

Gaizka Garitano has stressed that Athletic Club’s players are mentally prepared to take on SD Huesca this Friday at San Mamés (21:00 CET), even in the face of the current hectic fixture schedule.

The lions have already played three LaLiga matches since the start of December and, the match against Huesca included, they’ll play three more before the new year.

“The team is in good spirits,” Garitano said at his pre-match press conference in Lezama. “They’re motivated and desperate to get back to winning ways.

“There’s no fatigue, we’re fully focused on beating Huesca.”

With respect to Huesca, Garitano insisted the newly promoted side, making their first appearance at San Mamés in two years, are playing better than their results suggest, but the gaffer remains confident the lions will come out on top.

“They [Huesca] just picked up a first league win but deserve to have won more already,” Garitano said. “That they’re low down the table means nothing right now, especially seeing how they’re constantly improving things.”

“They’re a good side, they like to play with the ball at their feet, they do it well and they press high,” the gaffer said about Huesca’s style of play. “They’re probably in their best form right now, but we know what we need to do to win the three points.”

Real Madrid were confirmed as Athletic’s Spanish Super Cup semi-finals on Friday morning, with the fixture being scheduled for January 14. Neverthless, the gaffer stressed that there is a lot of football to be played between then and now, saying the lions must take things one match at a time.

“We can’t look beyond Friday. At the moment, there’s a match every three days and we’re just going game by game. The time will come when we can analyse that specific match,” Garitano added.