Marcelino: “Winning against Valencia would put us in a good position”

Athletic Club manager Marcelino García Toral reiterated that advancing in the Copa del Rey and playing matches every three or four days is not necessarily detrimental for the Lions.

Despite having had little time to rest since their penalty shootout win over Real Betis in the Copa quarter-finals, Athletic are back in LaLiga action on Sunday afternoon, taking on Marcelino’s former side Valencia CF (16:15 CET).

“You have to consider each competition as its own thing. It’s difficult, but that’s what the schedule requires,” Marcelino said at his pre-match press conference. “I’d rather be in this situation than not.”

“Knocking out Betis was a mental boost. If anyone deserved to go through, it was Athletic. So we’re in good spirits.”

“Winning [against Valencia] would put us in a very good position, and we’ll make changes with that in mind. It’s a match with a lot of incentives.”

It will be the first-time Athletic’s boss has taken on his previous side Valencia, the side with which he won the Copa in 2018-19.

“For me, it’s a special match,” Marcelino admitted. “I have great memories of Valencia, the fans and the players.

“But now I’m the Athletic manager and Valencia is in the past.”

Marcelino stated that his side can take nothing for granted against Valencia on Sunday, saying: “We have to be intense, direct and try to hit them on the counter-attack.

“They’re a side that will push us to the limit.”

Marcelino ruled out calling up players from Bilbao Athletic, to reinforce his depleted squad, as the reserve side played a physically demanding match on Saturday evening, but he insisted he won’t put any player’s health at risk.

“We’ll try to hold out physically as best as we can. We must focus on the present. These three points are very important,” he added.

“We’ll analyse the workload of each player, we won’t take any risks.

“What is undeniable though is that the team will be competitive and they’ll make us proud.”