Valverde: I will try to stop Messi

The Athletic boss says Barcelona will respect his side in the Copa del Rey final and says they will need to do most of the running

Athletic Bilbao boss Ernesto Valderde admits he does not have a plan to stop Lionel Messi in Saturday's Copa del Rey final.

Messi scored in both of Barcelona's cup final triumphs over Bilbao in 2009 and 2012 and has enjoyed an exceptional run of form in 2015 to help the Catalans close in on the treble.

Valverde conceded he has no idea how to stop the four-time Ballon d'Or winner.

"I don't know how to stop Lionel Messi but we have to try," Valverde told a press conference.

"We know how good he is and more than that, I cannot say anything about Messi that nobody already knows.

"We see him every day on the pitch. He is a player who shows his quality on the big stage, like finals.

"We have to try to stop him from doing the things he is capable of; he won't do all those things tomorrow on the pitch."

Barca (26 titles) and Athletic (23) are the two most successful Copa del Rey clubs, although the Catalans have won the last two final meetings between the sides by an aggregate score of 7-1.

Valverde said Athletic will stick to the style they know best, however, as they aim to win their first Copa since 1983-84.

"Each team has their own style and way of doing the job, so when you arrive at a match like tomorrow's [game] you have to put this style on the pitch," Valverde said.

"We cannot make up anything now.

"We already know Barcelona have a lot of respect for us and we have the same for them because they are a really huge team.

"It's true one of our skills is to apply pressure on them because we could take advantage from doing that.

"We know we have to run more than they do and we will try to do that."