Muniain: “We’ve got an exciting year ahead”

Athletic Club captain Iker Muniain believes there is plenty to be excited about as we enter 2022, a year in which the Lions will begin a new Copa del Rey campaign and look to defend their Spanish Super Cup trophy.

Athletic kick off the new year with a busy January, starting with a LaLiga clash against CA Osasuna on January 3, before taking on Atlético Mancha Real in the Copa del Rey round of 32 on January 6.

Los Rojiblancos follow this up with a trip to Saudi Arabia on January 13, where they will face Atlético Madrid in the semi-finals of the 2022 Supercopa.

“We’ve got an exciting year ahead,” Muniain said at a pre-match press conference ahead of Monday’s visit to El Sadar against CA Osasuna (21:00 CET).

“Two new competitions -Copa and Supercopa- both single-legged ties, and tournaments in which we’ve shown ourselves to be strong and competitive.

“We’ll do our best to perform well so we can have those great experiences again. I’m optimistic and so is the team.”

First up, Los Rojiblancos take on rivals CA Osasuna on Monday night. The Pamplona-based side are 13th in LaLiga Santander and the skipper is certain Athletic will have to fight hard to win all three points.

He said: “It will be a difficult and intense match, we’ll have to fight a lot. But these are three valuable points which would help us start January with even more optimism.”

Muniain defended the team’s performance in the first half of the campaign, saying: “We needed a bit more accuracy in front of goal, and I think we are already noticing an improvement.

“As for everything else, we’re happy with what we’re doing and I think we’ll get many more victories in the rest of season if we improve our finishing.”

When asked about the number of positive COVID-19 cases being recorded by all teams, the Athletic captain argued it was inevitable that players would be affected by “something that is present in all areas of society”.

He added: “We do everything we can to avoid it, but it still happens. The important thing is that those affected are in good health and that nothing serious occurs.”