Athletic Bilbao midfielder Dani Garcia is desperate to bring European football back to San Mames next season.

The Lions remain in the hunt for a European spot. Victory against Cádiz last week leaves Athletic four points away from Villarreal, who currently occupy seventh place in the LaLiga Santander table. Los Rojiblancos face Atlético Madrid this Saturday night in Bilbao in what could prove to be a crucial fixture for Athletic's ambitions.

“I'd be be devastated if I didn't play in Europe," García said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “I want to play European football with Athletic. It would be amazing to bring those beautiful matches back to San Mamés and I want to be involved in that."

He continued: “We'll have to win, or be close to winning, all our remaining matches. They're all like finals now, Villarreal have the advantage and we can't afford to fall behind. We have to get a good result from Saturday's home match."

The midfielder has slowly made his way back to first-team action after spending a few weeks on the sidelines with a groin issue. He explained that his recovery “was a long process".

“I've been training without pain, I still have a little bit to go before I'm at my best, but I'm happy and I'm looking forward to playing at San Mamés again," he continued.

“Whenever this has happened to me before, it happened to me at Eibar five years ago, we've managed to fix the problem. At no time has it ever crossed my mind to have an operation, because I never thought it was necessary. if that had been the case our medical services would have advised me to do it."