Garitano: “The tie is wide open”

“We will probably accept it as a good result in a couple of days, but it has left us a bitter aftertaste and no one is pleased about it in the dressing room.” Gaizka Garitano has shown his discontent for what happened in the second half of the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) first-leg semi-final against Granada CF, where a goal from Capa was annuled, preventing Athletic to increase their goal difference with a view to the second leg: “It is usually hard for us to score, but if we manage to do it and it is later disallowed, as it happened today, you get even angrier. Nobody had complained about it and I think was a legit goal.” Regarding the overall outcome of the tie, Garitano has been eloquent: “It is wide open. We have to play 90 minutes there with a single goal difference and I think the tie is levelled.”

Garitano has shown his satisfaction with the effort made by his players and the communion with their supporters: “We were ourselves from the beginning, we kept a really high pace. In the first half we should just have converted a chance or two more. In the second half, we had more difficulties to manage because we were tired, but we had opportunities and we deserved a second goal. We know that in these two-legged ties, not conceding a goal is really important and we always take extra caution. The supporters? They gave us wings. When playing like this, the team transmits something, and San Mamés has been spectacular today, as it’s customary in these games.”