Marcelino: “Seeing fans at San Mamés will be an incredible moment”

Marcelino García Toral could not hide his excitement ahead of Athletic Club’s first LaLiga Santander clash of the season at San Mamés.

Athletic are set to take on FC Barcelona (Saturday, 22:00 CEST) in what will be the first time fans have attended a match at The Cathedral since March 2020.

“No doubt it’s a big and welcome motivation for us,” Marcelino said about the fans heading back to San Mamés. “There will be 10,500 spectators, and we’ll make the most of their support and enjoy it. It will be an incredible moment.

“The other unforgettable moment will be when I see the stadium full.”

Athletic’s opponents FC Barcelona might have lost a talisman in the form of Leo Messi, but Marcelino was adamant that the Catalans still have several attacking threats worthy of worrying about.

“We will have to defend well and press high so they can’t play out of the back too easily,” he added. “We also have to be efficient because Barcelona will have more chances than us. We have to play at a very high level.”

Nonetheless, the coach reiterated that Athletic are working on adopting a style suited to their qualities and won’t be making any drastic tactical changes.

“In pre-season we worked on an idea, a style, and we’ll keep working on it,” he said. “Obviously, we won’t play exactly the same way against Barça as we did against Elche.

“But the foundations will be the same. The players are comfortable with our style and we believe it will make us a competitive team that is very difficult to beat.”

Asked about the team’s lack of goals, the Asturian coach acknowledged that the Lions “don’t have a natural goalscorer in the team”, but believes there is more than enough talent to make up for that.

He continued: “The more times we get into the opposition’s box, the more goals we can score. And the more pressure we put them under, the more goals we’ll score.

“We’re working hard to achieve this and instead of conceding 38 goals, we will have to keep a clean sheet in 15 games. We have to look for solutions and I believe in my players because of what they show me every day. I’m content and enthusiastic.”