Marcelino: “We’re going to Huesca to try and win”

Athletic Club manager Marcelino promised his squad will not be lacking in motivation when they face SD Huesca on Wednesday night (20:00 CEST).

With safety guaranteed and Europe now seemingly out of touch, some worry the Lions might down tools, but the Gaffer was adamant that will not happen on his watch.

“Without any excuses, we’re going to Huesca to try and win,” Marcelino said at his pre-match press conference in Lezama.

“My only goal and ambition is to win the next match. We have to have that mentality to win. That’s what I want to show here and to the group. Let’s be ambitious and fight to win every match.

“If you settle for less, it leads to mistakes, you have to escape from that and be ambitious. That’s what our fans want to see. I’m proud of the effort these players made on Saturday and the reaction of the team after the two finals, after two disappointments, not failures. It’s the first step towards being competitive next season.”

Athletic went ahead twice against CA Osasuna last Saturday, but could not hold on for the win, with the visitors picking up a point at San Mamés thanks to a late equaliser.

He said: “The anger is gone. The game was won and in an avoidable moment we lost two points, meaning the match didn’t reflect what happened on the pitch, as we were superior.”

The head coach was positive in his analysis of the season as a whole, stating: “Hopefully the next few seasons will be similar. We won a trophy against Real Madrid and Barcelona, played two finals, one was a tight loss, in the other one we weren’t good enough… and we’ve beaten the top four in the league.

“Since I’ve been here, the team has shown a good competitive level. We were closer to victory than defeat in the multiple draws, even though we didn’t manage to win, and only Barça and Atlético have beaten us.

“The idea next season is to fight for Europe. It’s not easy, but if we’re at our best we’ll be close.”

As for Wednesday’s opponents SD Huesca, Marcelino believes the Aragon-based outfit are much improved since Pacheta took over.

“With the arrival of Pacheta, they have evolved in terms of results, “ Marcelino added. “They have a clear idea of how to play at their ground. There will be very quick transitions. We have to attack with speed. They also have Rafa Mir, who is on a very good scoring streak.”

The match against SD Huesca kicks off at 20:00 local time, here is a detailed list of the TV operators and kick-off times all around the world.