Marcelino: “A great night of Copa action awaits us at San Mamés”

Athletic Club head coach Marcelino is confident the San Mamés faithful will be in for a treat when the Lions take on FC Barcelona at San Mamés on Thursday night (21:30 CET).

With more than 44 games worth of history stretching back to 1901/02, including last year’s final and a riveting quarter-final in 2019/20, this particular fixture, between the competition’s two most successful sides, is one of the most illustrious around.

“A great night of Copa action awaits us at San Mamés,” Marcelino said at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday night. “We’re facing Barça in what will be a tough match.

“But with just 24 hours to go we’re excited and hopeful of winning. Our fans will be hugely important in helping us go through to the next round.”

The Lions are coming off the back of a great showing at the Spanish Super Cup. While Marcelino is fully aware of the difficulty involved in beating the defending Copa champions, he is confident about Athletic’s chances.

“We’re not going to change too much. We’ll do the same things we’ve done all season,” Marcelino added. “For example, we’ll keep going with our characteristic high press.

“Xavi’s Barça are picking up different patterns of play, they’re more intense as a collective and play with more pace.

“We’ll have to be clinical in both areas. And we’ll have to be at the same level as when we played a great game against them in LaLiga.

“We’ll go at full throttle for 90 minutes and see what happens.”