Valverde: "Real Sociedad were more clinical"

Athletic Club head coach Ernesto Valverde admitted he feels the 3-0 scoreline in Saturday's loss against Real Sociedad was slightly harsh on the Lions. But at the same time, he recognised la Real were better in both boxes than Los Rojiblancos.

The hosts had eight shots, five of which were on goal, whereas Athletic had 18 attempts in total, hitting the target three times.

"When you see a team has won 3-0, you'd think they'd been far more superior and created more chances, but that wasn't the case," Valverde said in his post-match press conference.

"However, Real Sociedad were more decisive, more clinical and they hit harder. They are great side with good players."

The boss acknowledged the Zurigorri lacked a bit of luck and believes the match could have turned out differently on another day.

He said: "The game was even. We were both pushing and it seemed like there wouldn't be many goals. They scored the first and we went close to getting an equaliser.

Then they got their second and even after that we had chances to get back into the game. But once they got a third it was complicated."