Athletic Club travel to Anoeta on Wednesday night (21:00 CEST) knowing they must overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg against Real Sociedad. The Txuri-Urdin head into the match as favourites, against an Athletic side that are missing Nico Williams, and struggling for consistency, although the gap between the two legs has been kinder to them than La Real.
Ernesto Valverde confirmed to MD that Nico Williams would not be fit to play, while Yuri Berchiche and Aymeric Laporte were dealing with discomfort ahead of the game, and would be late decisions. On the other hand, Matarazzo explained to Diario AS that Orri Oskarsson would not be in the squad as he continues his recovery. Ander Barrenetxea and Luka Sucic are fit enough to play an hour. Both managers seemed to hint reserve goalkeepers Alex Padilla (Athletic) and Unai Marrero (Real Sociedad) would be starting in goal.
In terms of their approach, Valverde was not thinking in terms of how he wanted the 90 minutes to feel, but rather the plan he wanted his players to carry out.
“We don’t care if it’s a long or short match, we just want to come back. You never know how a match will go; your prediction can change in a minute, and it’s best to approach it as if it were a must-win game. If you don’t concede any goals, you just have to score one, and if you do concede one, you have to score more. The match will be long or short, but it will last around 90 minutes.”
Similarly, El Txingurri did not seem too concerned by the prospect of going two goals down on aggregate.
“Now it’s not like before, with the away goals rule. Now if we concede two, we have to score more than the opponent. We’ll try to win the game and I don’t expect a close match. We’re going to give it our all to win. It’s true that throughout the season there have been better games and worse games, but overall we’ll try to be at our best.”
Opposite number Pellegrino Matarazzo was upbeat about his side’s chances ahead of the game, and seemed happy with what he had seen in training.
“What I’m feeling is a really good energy, the perfect level of tension; we can’t be too tense for an important match. We need to be somewhat relaxed in the way we move and play football. We need a good balance between excitement and relaxation, and to be fully focused on the game.”
The former Bundesliga manager asked his players to focus on the next play rather than managing the game as a whole.
“I think we need to be focused on what we have to do. We don’t focus on the final result; we concentrate on winning every duel, every pass, every situation in the game. We want to take it one step at a time, and that’s how we’ll build energy. That’s how we manage our pressure and how we develop our style of play.”
“You always have to play smart. It’s part of our job to prepare for the match and manage the players’ mindset, giving them clarity and focus is important. But it’s not just about mindset; heart is important too. It’s a good mix where, in every match, we must always strive for energy and a strong connection.”
Upon Matarazzo’s arrival, La Real went on a stunning nine-game unbeaten run, which ended after their victory against Athletic in the first leg. He was asked if the side he was putting out tomorrow was better than the one from the first leg.
“I think that as we progress, yes, we have taken some steps backward, like losing against Real Madrid or drawing against Oviedo, which felt like a defeat, but we reacted well in Mallorca, and now we have good energy again. We have recovered players, and I think we are in a good moment.”
“We’ve worked on all phases of the game: attack, defense, set pieces… We focus on different things, and you can’t train everything every week. What matters is that you revisit the same topics each week. We’re still aiming to defend well, and we didn’t concede a goal in the last match. We have to keep working, paying attention to the details, and reviewing them regularly.”
The two sides have already met three times this season, with Real Sociedad coming out on top twice, once at Anoeta and again at San Mames in the first leg. Los Leones rescued a point from the second league meeting in Bilbao late on, at the start of February.
