Raúl García: “I’m still fully confident in this group”

Athletic Club forward Raúl García believes the Lions are capable of bouncing back from last Saturday’s Copa del Rey 2019-20 final loss against Real Sociedad.

Los Rojiblancos have an important two weeks ahead. They’ll face two Basque derbies in LaLiga -Real Sociedad on Wednesday night and Alaves on Saturday, April 10- before taking on FC Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey 2020-21 on April 17.

“I’m still fully confident in this group,” Raúl García said at a press conference in Lezama. “On several occasions they’ve shown me they can be counted on.

“I’d like to play finals every year. When you lose it’s gutting, but I’m going to keep fighting to get to as many finals as possible.

“On Wednesday we have another match. Now is the time to disconnect and get in the right frame of mind.

“We can’t just forget the bad things, you have to learn from them and move forward.”

Athletic have the chance to take immediate revenge when they face Real Sociedad in LaLiga Santander at the Reale Arena on Wednesday night (21:00 CEST).

The forward admitted the performance in the Copa final defeat to the San Sebastian-based side was not up to standard, promising there would be soul searching and consequences.

“We have to accept we weren’t as good as we know we could’ve been,” Raúl added. “And acknowledge we didn’t compete in the way we know how to.

“There are many things prevented us from playing the way we wanted to play.

“We must recognise this and to learn from it so we can improve.

“The best thing now is for the team to get together, keep working, analyse footage from the match and learn from it.”

Raúl insisted that actions rather than words are a better form of showing fans how he’ll react to the defeat, while vowing to work hard to repay their trust and support.

His message to the Athletic faithful was this: “I’m not one for saying things, I’m more about doing them,” he said. “You [the fans] know I’m not happy with the other day and I’m already thinking about how to redeem myself as soon as possible.

“The fans have shown me they’re with us. It’s in the bad moments that you really see the fans of a club.

“When things aren’t going well, the shows of support, and the understanding that things don’t always go as planned, fill you with the strength needed to keep moving forward.

“All I can say to the fans is thank you and that we are confident about the other final, we are going to be ready.

“The word that stands out for me is ‘pride’, that’s the only thing I feel when it comes to our supporters.”