Marcelino: “We shouldn’t forget what happened. We have to analyse why it happened”

Marcelino García Toral admitted he is still suffering after Saturday night’s Copa del Rey final defeat to Real Sociedad, but the boss also insisted it would be unhealthy to wipe the match from memory, stating it should be used as inspiration to do better in similar situations in the future.

Athletic Club have an opportunity to draw some sort of consolation and get back on track this Wednesday when they face la Real again. This time in LaLiga Santander at Reale Arena (21:00 CEST).

“These days have been hard for all of us,” Marcelino said at his pre-match press conference ahead of the LaLiga clash. “But we shouldn’t forget what happened. We have to analyse why it happened.

“Identifying why we played the way we did will show us why our performance was far from what we expected it to be.

“The very high level of responsibility, and wanting to please the fans, led us to lose sight of the plan we thought was going to lead us to victory.”

The manager reiterated that Athletic must work hard to move on and recover their morale, and he said it all starts with focusing on the “mistakes made”.

“We’re still in the process of recovery,” Marcelino said. “When something hurts, it takes longer to forget it.

“Knowing the mistakes we made is the starting point for getting back to where we need to be.

“This is a strong, united group. Between all of us, we’ll find the right way to regain our form. We know what lead us to being a competitive team.

“I believe, and we trust, in our players. We have to compete as soon as possible, trying to convince ourselves that what happened on Saturday was an accident.

“We now have to play la Real again. That’s how beautiful football is.

“We have to go there and be confident in our own ability.”