The presence of Ernesto Valverde on the Basque bench was one of the main attractions of the match between Barcelona and Athletic. The former Blaugrana coach experienced a bitter return to what was his home for several seasons and admitted in front of the speakers on “Liga TV” that “it was not a good day, I would say it was very bad
“We were not close to winning, that’s clear,” Valverde said at the start
We tried to put pressure on them at first, but they came out fine and then they punished us on arrival. In ten minutes they scored three goals
Unfortunately, he added, “The second target in particular killed us. Two goals in five minutes the team has suffered. In the end you see that you didn’t arrive and they hit you really hard, it was a very tough match for us
When asked if he expected Xavi’s approach, he did not hesitate to admit that “Yes, Xavi surprised me with what he did because when he played with players from deep, there was a moment when they could open the field with Baldi and Dembele and play with diamonds and generate property for you
But the fact that Pedri played from the start on the left wing hurt us a little bit.” Yes, he commented, “It wasn’t just that
He confirmed that Ousmane Dembele was really amazing and had the greatest influence in winning us
The Barcelona coach commented on the match, saying, “We understood the match well,” the man from Igar explained, “we knew that they would put pressure on us and we pressed another midfielder to achieve superiority in the middle.” He admitted that he was “particularly happy”, more than the last match against Villarreal, “because we managed to maintain the intensity until Sergi [Roberto] was injured”, in the last minutes; “We were very good, supportive and committed to the team and it was a very complete match
Among all his players, Xavi stood out in particular, Ousmane Dembele: “He was in the spotlight because he risks his head or his tail. A goal… was particularly excited. He understood everything very well. difference and he is able to do these things
