Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde said his team will respond positively to the pressure in Wednesday's must-win Champions League Group H game at home to Porto.
Athletic have made a woeful start to the competition, and are currently bottom of the table with just one point from their first three games. Porto by contrast are top of Group H, after beating the Basque side 2-1 at home during their most recent outing.
The coach of Los Leones told his prematch news conference that, with the San Mames crowd behind them, his players would give everything they had to get the three points required to keep alive any realistic chance of making the knockout phase.
"Even if they lose, Porto will still be able to get through the group, whereas we couldn't afford a defeat," Valverde said. "So the onus is on us to win. I don't consider that a handicap, however, rather a positive -- we tend to respond well to pressure.
"The San Mames effect is very important. The crowd drive us on and if we can really get them behind us it will be a huge factor.
"We would like to have more points at the moment. It's been difficult until now, but we are going to fight until the very last match. We're not just thinking of third place."
Athletic come into the game boosted by two consecutive 1-0 wins in La Liga, something that Valverde said had helped to rebuild confidence which had been low after a poor run of results at home and in Europe.
"We are growing in confidence," he said. "When you win a couple of games on the spin, you are able to focus more easily on the challenge ahead. In terms of morale, these two victories have really boosted us."
The Basque side are however without injured top scorer Aritz Aduriz, who will be replaced by youngster Guillermo, while Valverde said he also had some other selection issues to resolve.
"Guillermo is ready," he said. "If he gets the nod ahead of other players it's because I've watched them all and he's in the best form. We're waiting to see how several other players are. We have had a lot of games recently and tomorrow is going to be tough as well. The players with knocks are [Oscar] De Marcos, [Ager] Aketxe, [Iker] Muniain, [Aymeric] Laporte ... a significant number."
"El Txingurri" said that nobody at his club was underestimating Porto, who would fare very well were they to play in Spain's La Liga.
"Porto are a great side with top attackers," he said. "If they were in the Spanish league, they'd be somewhere between third and sixth. I also think the Portuguese Liga is harder than some people imagine. Porto have their own particular style and I don't think that's going to change much. Their players like to have the ball and to control the game."