Athletic leave Mexico in high spirits

Athletic Club leave Mexico with a big smile on our faces. The experience of touring the country, which we last visited 47 years ago, has been positive in every respect.

On the sporting front, after a hectic opening game against Chivas, for which they had almost no time to recover from jet lag or to prepare, the Lions performed much better in a 0-2 victory over Necaxa.

On an instutional level, we've confirmed Athletic has a proud following in Mexico and that our project is appeals to business leaders. There was a reason behind the fact that we are the fourth most watched LaLiga side in the country after Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

In pre-season's, the most important thing, beyond gaining match fitness, is to avoid injuries. And in that sense, there have only been a couple of minor mishaps. Unai Egiluz picked up a knock against Chivas which prevented him from playing in Aguascalientes, where Nico Williams also suffered a similar injury to his left thigh. On Thursday evening, both did some light running during a 45-minute training session at the Estadio Victoria, after which the travelling party took a group photo on the pitch.

The team will leave the hotel in Aguascalientes at 16.30 local time (00:30 in Bilbao) to catch a flight to Mexico City. After that, they'll travel to Madrid and then Bilbao. The squad is expected to arrive back in Lezama on Friday at around 21:00 CEST and will then enjoy a well-deserved weekend of rest.