Zinedine Zidane knows Real Madrid are in for a tough match at Athletic Bilbao's San Mames fortress, but the coach does not expect Saturday's crunch encounter to determine the outcome of LaLiga's title race.
Madrid head to the Basque Country in first place, two points clear of Barcelona and with a game in hand over Luis Enrique's reigning champions.
Athletic have not tasted defeat in their own backyard since going down 1-0 to the Catalan giants in the opening round of the season, while only Osasuna, Alaves and Atletico Madrid have earned draws away to Ernesto Valverde's side.
"As you said, the only game that they have lost was against Barcelona," Zidane replied when questioned about the challenging fixture at a news conference on Friday.
"We know it's going to be a difficult game… and we know it's a hostile atmosphere."
Asked if matches away to teams outside the title race but with strong home form could ultimately dictate the outcome of LaLiga, he said: "I don't know if they can decide the league. But they're three big points for us.
"They're going to defend strongly, they're doing very well. We're going to suffer, but we're working hard, we're confident, we've got good character, we need to put all these ingredients together to win.
"What we're going to try and do is just put in a good performance and keep picking up points."
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Saturday / Sábado
16:15 CET