Supercopa 2021. Marcelino and Muniain

Athletic Club manager Marcelino Garcia Toral and captain Iker Muniain both insisted the Lions are not at the Spanish Super Cup to make up numbers and that Athletic have come to win.

The Rojiblancos face current Supercopa champions Real Madrid on Thursday night (21:00 CET), and a victory could see Athletic take on either FC Barcelona or Real Sociedad in the final on Sunday.

“The team has come to win the tournament,” Marcelino said at his pre-match press conference from La Rosaleda, setting for Thursday’s semi-final. “We know it will be difficult, Real Madrid are one of the most competitive teams, even more so in tournaments like this.

“But we’re determined and ambitious. The team is capable.”

The match against Real Madrid will be Marcelino’s second in charge of Athletic after last week’s LaLiga Santander fixture with Atlético Madrid was postponed. And the boss wants to see his side continue in a similar vein to the start against FC Barcelona.

“We want to develop upon the positive performance we put in at the beginning of the match against Barça,” Marcelino added.

“We’ve worked hard to come up with a plan so we can go toe to toe with Real Madrid. 

“We’re two matches away from winning a trophy and we’re going to go for it.”

As for the opponents, stressed that Athletic’s defence will have to be on top form when facing Real Madrid’s attacking talents, saying: “We must defend better than we did against Barça.

“But I also want us to attack. We’ll try to scare Real Madrid when we’re in possession of the ball.

“Only that way will we be closer to winning.”

Iker Muniain echoed the words of his head coach, reiterating that the squad is raring to go.

“We’ve come here absolutely desperate to win,” Muniain said. “It’s a very important trophy for us and for the fans.”

Athletic’s captain has no doubts the lions are more than capable of beating Real Madrid and going on to the final.

“It’s going to be a demanding 90 minutes, but this is a semi-final and anything can happen. We want to play in the final on Sunday,” he added.

“We have a good chance of defeating Real Madrid”