Bielsa upbeat after first day at Athletic Club

 　　MADRID, July 13 (Xinhua) -- New Athletic¹ Bilbao coach Marcelo Bielsa on Wednesday took his first training session at the club and spoke² to the press for the first time since his arrival.

　　Bielsa took the helm at Athletic at the hand of new club President Josu Urrutia and the former Argentina and Chile national team coach will be working hard to prepare for the new season, which kicks off on August 21 away to Real Madrid.

　　"I would have signed for the club just for the first game of the season for the chance to face Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium," admitted Bielsa, who was not worried about the lack of time to get the squad³ into shape for the big kick off.

　　"I have time enough to think that I will be able to achieve my aims before the first game. I can't think of any excuses for why we shouldn't try and win from the very start," said the coach, who has carried out an exhaustive study of videos of his new players in preparation for his move to Bilbao.

　　Bielsa showed his optimism and made a promise to the club's fans.

　　"We have no excuses for not going out to try and win, I feel the obligation to do that in every game. I like my players to be protagonists⁴, to have presence in the opponents' half and to have the ball rather than be able to win it back," he said.

　　He also said that he would not rule out making any new signings, but admitted that he had not thought of anyone in particular to bring to the club.

　　Wednesday night saw Bielsa and his players travel to the east coast of Spain to continue pre-season training.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

4 protagonists   

n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者

参考例句：

• Mrs Pankhurst was one of the chief protagonists of women's rights. 潘克赫斯特太太是女权的主要倡导者之一。 来自辞典例句
• This reflects that Feng Menglong heartily sympathized with these protagonists. 这反映出冯梦龙由衷地同情书中的这些主要人物。 来自互联网