Valverde: "A draw is a fair result as we both had chances"

Athletic Club head coach Ernesto Valverde believes a draw was a fair result after Los Leones scored a last-gasp equaliser in their 2-2 draw with Valencia CF at San Mames on Sunday evening.

The Zurigorri took the lead through Oscar de Marcos in the first half, but after the break Valencia flipped the script to go ahead. However, Athletic had the final word with Alex Berenguer nodding home a header in the 96th minute.

"We were winning at half-time, but it was a very open game," Valverde said post-match.

"Valencia were very dangerous every time their attackers got the ball. In the second half, our idea was to control the game a bit more and try to increase our lead.

"That's what we tried to do. In a mismatch they equalised and that threw us off our rhythm and their second came quickly after that. At least we were able to salvage a point with our final push. I consider the result is just because both teams had chances."

Ernesto said Athletic could have done a better job of protecting their lead when Valencia went on the attack in the second half, stating his players need to be calmer in those sort of situations.

He added: "There were moments when the match was too broken but we weren't able to stop it, or be calmer, so that we were more clincal with our dangerous chances.

"In football everything is a war to manage what occurs during the match."