Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 10y

Athletic Bilbao bank on home advantage vs. Shakhtar Donetsk

Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde is backing a noisy crowd at the new Estadio San Mames to roar their side to victory against Shakhtar Donetsk in what is the Basque club's first Champions League group game in 16 years.

More than 50,000 passionate home fans helped Athletic make it past Napoli in last month's playoff round second leg, and a similar sell-out crowd is expected at the impressive new ground for Wednesday's Group H opener.

The Los Leones boss told his pregame news conference that he anticipated a first game in the competition proper at home to be an advantage.

"We are fortunate to be playing our first game at home, with the crowd behind us," Valverde said. "We have to make the most of it, to make a good start by claiming all three points. Victory is our objective. A win would be a massive step and we will do everything to get it."

Despite the disruption being caused by the war back home in Ukraine, Valverde said that he expected Shakhtar would be difficult opponents -- as they showed when winning 2-0 at Real Sociedad in their opening group game last season.

"Shakhtar are a dangerous team going forward," he said. "They usually take the initiative and they have very fast players in attack, like Douglas and Teixeira. We have to be very careful because they are good and dangerous when they get space, and they are used to winning. That's a big plus for them.

"They are good on the counterattack but they also know how to defend. We have to be patient to break down their defensive system. They are in good form, a long way clear at the top of the Ukrainian league, and with a relatively settled side. All their players who played here last year against La Real are still here. We have watched that game a lot," he said.

Valverde also dodged a question about whether he would stick with out of form captain Carlos Gurpegui, who has a minor knee problem, at centre-back.

"Gurpegui is fine, we have everyone available," he said. "It is a problem as you must make a list of 18. It is possible there could be some changes, I will not say."

Athletic finished fourth in the Spanish league last season. The club has formed part of Spain's top league since it was inaugurated in 1929 and remarkably -- like Real Madrid or Barcelona -- has never been relegated.

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