Athletic Bilbao vice-captain Andoni Iraola says he is delighted to see Fernando Llorente back in first-team action with the Basques.
Llorente has been in dispute with Los Leones after refusing the offer of a contract extension, but came off the bench in both the 3-3 draw at Espanyol last week and Thursday’s 1-1 stalemate with Hapoel Kiryat Shmona at San Mames.
However, Iraola hopes the Spanish international will have a much bigger part to play against Malaga on Sunday.
“I’m delighted he is back because he is very important to us,” he told a Press conference. “We know all about the goals he has scored in previous seasons and that is a lot of points.
“We need to look good against a rival team such as Malaga, who are very strong, and it will be a good test for us to measure ourselves against them after an erratic start.”
Iraola admitted that the draw with Hapoel was a step back in Bilbao’s bid to have a decent run in the Europa League after getting to the final last season.
“It was two points dropped and now we need to go to Prague with the mentality of getting a victory in our next group game against Sparta,” he insisted.
