Valverde: “We are the team we are”

Ernesto Valverde acknowledged that Barça had made a good start to the Super Cup semi-final. “They started very well, then we grew. We saw that we could equalize and in the second half we also saw that we could score. “We lost a good chance to play in the Super Cup final,” he admitted.

The Bilbao team finished well in the first half, but conceded 0-2 at the start of the second and that was an important defeat. Lacking confidence? “In front we have to see what we have. We tried to prevent them from going out of the game, but they know how to play with little space and a lot. Maybe we have to adjust but it’s part of the game. In front of us “We have great players who are unforgiving. Their second goal is offside and we are both offside. We have answers,” he said.

Athletic had no strength in the two culé goals: “In the end, goals always come from mistakes of one kind or another. It’s a game of glitches. We try to find the opponent’s mistake and we try to find their mistakes. We lost the game and they took advantage of it. We are the team that we are. We can make mistakes, this is how this game is.”

Lamine Yamal He returned to the Barça eleven and scored 0-2. “He is a differential player with the ball, when he catches the ball it is important not only because of what he can do but because he has the radar to look from far and close. He is an exceptional player for his age .The decisions he makes are usually the best but I focus on my team, on the good players we have and what we have to improve.

The Athletic coach repeated the level of the rival. “We have Barça in front of us, they asked me why Laminate… They play very well, they don’t lose the ball and they hit it well. If you leave them space they run fine. We try to push and reach. Sometimes you are right and now we are wrong. That happens, nothing more than that,” the coach said.