Bilbao, Oct 24 (EFE).- Ernesto Valverde, coach of Athletic Club, valued Slavia Prague as “a great team” and admitted that, despite the victory achieved in San Mamés, they have “suffered a lot” to overcome the Czech team for 1-0.
“If they were in pot 1 of the Europa League it was for a reason. They haven't played in the Champions League by inches, they have been with the same coach for a long time and we knew that they put a lot of effort into the game. They didn't surprise me. We won, but we have suffered a lot,” the coach stressed in the press conference after the match.
“They played very well and had a great game,” added Valverde, before acknowledging that they erred on the side of “hastiness” to overcome Slavia's individual pressure because he believes that “more could be played than it seemed.” “It was a matter of finding the right moment,” he added.
“We give a lot of value to this victory because we value our rival a lot. In Europe there is a lot of equality and each point has to be worked hard. There are very good teams used to playing this competition and we have managed to score in the three games. We have 7 points and we are happy with how the classification is going,” stressed the Athletic coach.
Valverde, on the other hand, praised the performance of Julen Agirrezabala, key to the victory with several worthy saves, and assured that “the position” of goalkeeper “is very well covered” with the youth squad, the international Unai Simón and Alex Padilla. “The only thing you have to do with such good players is trust them. Our goalkeepers get much more right than they make mistakes,” he said. EFE
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