Mendilibar: As long as we play our game, we're capable of getting something from the Calderón
The Armeros' boss has called up all 18 available members of his squad, with Capa, Luna, Fran Rico and Nano all sidelined through injury
Speaking today in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow's clash against Atlético Madrid at the Vicente Calderón, José Luis Mendilibar insisted that, "As long as we play our game, we're capable of getting something".
Mendilibar has called up all 18 available members of his squad, with Ander Capa, Antonio Luna, Fran Rico and Nano Mesa all ruled out through injury.
The 18-man squad is as follows: Yoel, Riesgo, Arbilla, Juncá, Ramis, Gálvez, Lejeune, Dos Santos, Dani García, Escalante, Rivera, Pedro León, Rubén Peña, Inui, Bebé, Adrián, Kike García and Enrich.
In Mendilibar's view, Atlético represent particularly tough opposition for sides like Eibar, "because they're one of the top teams and yet they play as if they were a lesser side: they never give up and fight for every last ball, they don't feel the need to win games 4-0 and don't try and go out and wrap things up within the first five minutes".
"Let's see whether we're capable of going there and competing and making a strong start. I place real emphasis on the opening 10 minutes. If we set up in such a way for each of our players to go and show what they can do just because we're going to Madrid, they could end up putting four or five past us because we'd lose possession and try to do things that we're not great at. That's when we'd see Atlético Madrid really perform".
"We'll do better at their place than we did here. They beat us comfortably when they came to Ipurua. I'm certain that we're capable of picking something up, as long as we play our game. If we stick to our own game, we'll give them some problems. I'm worried that they'll win the ball back in an area that they shouldn't and go and score a goal. If they go a goal up it's really hard to come from behind against Atlético. They're comfortable when the scoreline is at 0-0 and all the more so when they're leading 1-0".
With regards to the bearing that the outcome of Atlético's Champions League semi-final first-leg encounter could have on tomorrow's clash, Mendilibar stated, "I would have preferred it to have ended in a draw, or for them to have lost 1-0 or won 2-1 and for the tie to be more finely poised. They won't have given up on the tie just yet, but it's looking tough for them, as they themselves have said. The closer you are to achieving a target, the more focused you are on it".