Marcelino: “We must compete for every ball against Eibar”

Athletic Club manager Marcelino García Toral said his side will be putting next month’s Copa finals to the back of their minds when they face Basque rivals SD Eibar at San Mamés on Saturday afternoon (14:00 CET).

The LaLiga Santander fixture is Athletic’s final test before their Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad on April 3. But Marcelino warned it would be detrimental and disrespectful to look beyond Saturday’s opponents.

“Out of respect for the competition [LaLiga] and Eibar, we must approach this match properly,” Marcelino said at his pre-match press conference.

“We have a chance to collect three points and keep a second consecutive clean sheet.

“The best thing for us is to compete for every ball against Eibar. We’d be committing a mistake if we held anything back.

“Playing with less intensity doesn’t mean you won’t get injured. After the game, we’ll have plenty of time to recover and prepare for the final.”

Eibar are currently in the relegation zone in 19th place, but Marcelino is wary of an opponent who he feels have been unlucky so this season.

What’s more, the Basque side are without a win in their last ten visits to San Mamés.

“If they’ve gone ten matches without winning, that means they’re closer to getting to achieving it,” Marcelino added. “I don’t think football is being very fair with Eibar at the moment.”

“They have a very intense style. So, you need to concentrate and win your battles.

“They’re very attacking and are quite direct. The problem this year is they’re not as effective in attack as in previous seasons.”

Athletic have picked up 13 points out of a possible 30 in LaLiga since Marcelino arrived, something the manager is keen to improve.

He said: “I think we should have picked up more points. In general, based on the way we’ve played, we’ve deserved more than the number of points we’ve won.

“It’s not what we had hoped for, we want to get more points.”