One thing that cannot be doubted about coach Marcelo Bielsa is his total commitment to his way of doing things. This was shown in his Athletic de Bilbao side's first pre-season friendly against Lyon, where the Spanish side recorded a 2-1 victory, with two goals from Aritz Aduriz.

The previous day, Bielsa –from Rosario, Argentina– announced that he would not be using last season's loan players –including David López, who could move to Deportivo de La Coruña, and Iban Zubiaurre– in his team's first game.

Bielsa's side travelled to Grenoble without Spain internationals Fernando Llorente, Javi Martínez, Iker Muniain and Ander Herrera, as well as the injured Fernando Amorebieta and Mikel San José who is recovering from chickenpox and was forced to withdraw from his country’s Olympic team.