Marcelino has decided to take the entire squad to Seville this afternoon. Sancet and Nico Williams are out due to injury and Raúl García will be available. He has exercised alone during the week and yesterday he already participated in the task with the group and “he looks good”. Serrano will reinforce the group as one more offensive piece and goalkeeper Agirrezabala will join the expedition tomorrow.
The Asturian technician has been able to offer today his last previous press conference as coach of Athletic. No one has asked him about the preseason (what’s more, he points out that last year’s was perfect and as if he were giving it to his successor) and the presidential candidates are talking to other coaches. It doesn’t count for either. Agirrezabala joins tomorrow. The rojiblanco team must obtain a better result than Villarreal at the Camp Nou against Barcelona. After this game, the holidays begin.
García Toral has been talking about his future for almost three months, about the interference in the electoral process and about the offer made by Elizegi, which he preferred to discard so as not to leave those who come after him tied hand and foot. “He has not led me astray, but it has been difficult, It has been hard, but in no case has it reduced my energy, or distracted, or occupied above what I consider a priority. From that point of view, nothing to object to, nor has it conditioned ”, he remarked. His future is going to become clear very soon, next week, when Barkala and Arechabaleta are not even going to be candidates, so it seems clear that his cycle in San Mamés is finished. “It will be decided very quickly, once the competition is over, we have to do a deep analysis”.
It is before his last game as a rojiblanco probably, but he does not admit it bluntly. “I see it normally, the situation is that, it is the last game and we finished the contract, it is a possibility. We’ll talk next week, it’s time to make decisions. These footballers deserve to be in Europe”.
The key is that he himself does not see many more options to move up the table. “We always see possibilities to improve this team. When you see a squad that works, believes, accepts us and helps, is with its coaching staff… it always makes the coach optimistic. What I don’t know is how much the improvement can be. I’m not a fortune teller, setting the bar…I’m not sure I can say that.”
The mind is now to do what is in his power: win in Seville. “We do not arrive in the best disposition, which is to depend on oneself, but it has merit to arrive and be one of the seven Spanish teams that participate in the highest competitions”. He has not done much psychological work, “we face it with all the enthusiasm and maximum conviction, and, from here, it is about being successful”.
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