“Those of us here will give it our all”

Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta and Ernesto Valverde promised Athletic Club will fight with all they've got against Italian side Atalanta BC in Wednesday night's Champions League clash.

The Lions need a positive result to give themselves a chance of getting into the play-off round. However, they've travelled to Bergamo with an injury-struck squad.

Ruiz de Galarreta admitted that it's "never nice when your teammates are injured" but reiterated that the players available are desperate to do well.

He said: "The most frustrating thing for a footballer is not being being with the team, but there are young people coming through who are very determined, and those of us who are here will give it our all.

“Every match between now and the end of the season will be decisive. We have to win here, or at least pick up points, if we want to stay in the Champions League.

“When things don't go your way, you always have the opportunity to train harder, fix things and turn it around."

The gaffer acknowledged he would prefer to have the entire squad available, even if "thing like this happen when you have so many back-to-back matches"

"It's a setback because this is a decisive match, but we have to face it head on," he continued.

When asked about his comments that "LaLiga is what's most important", the Rojiblanco coach doubled down on his message: “Our most important competition is LaLiga, and that’s how we won the Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League last year.

"We don't have the points we'd like right now, but we have to keep pushing because the fixture list isn't giving us any respite."