Ernesto Valverde has warned Athletic Bilbao to avoid falling for Cordoba's lowly position in La Liga on Saturday.
The Basque outfit are expected to beat the League's bottom club at San Mames this weekend, but the Coach emphasised the fact that the new boys had only lost one more match than his side and thus demanded Los Leones be at their best.
"We face the team who are bottom, have not yet won in the League and only lost one game more than us," he noted at a Press conference yesterday.
"There are not so many differences, only that we've won more games than them.
"They come here with the intention of getting their first win. The fact that they're bottom tells us little. It's a fundamental match.
“They have good players like Cartabia, though he isn't playing, and Ghilas, who is very strong, so we must be aware of him.
"Don't worry about how much they need a result. That brings teams closer together and makes them tighter, so we have to be on top.
'Since we didn't beat Alcoyano, we go into our next match hoping to take advantage of being mentally well-prepared.
"We must play very aggressively, with plenty of pace, because the three points will give us so much.
"We must try to impose our rhythm, rush the opponent, take advantage of our ability with the ball, limit their counterattacks and be aggressive going forward."
Despite going five matches without a defeat, Athletic only managed a disappointing draw at Alcoyano in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, but Valverde defended the result, claiming 'all matches are difficult'.
"We come back from bad games, yet nobody questions us about the good," he added.
"We had difficulties in our last match, even though all the players were at a good level.
"They are very tough matches, and we're bound to lose more. We always respect our opponents.
"I don't know who said BATE are inferior … Alcoyano were also supposed to be [inferior] because they're two divisions below. All matches are difficult.
"They were very tight at the back, and it cost us. People only go by classifications to judge if one team is better than another.
"We respect Cordoba like we would [respect] Alcoyano and Real Madrid."
