Valverde: “We're playing away against a team desperate to win”
Valverde: “We're playing away against a team desperate to win”
Ernesto Valverde and Julen Agirrezabala spoke to the press at the Huvepharma Arena ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash in Bulgaria
Athletic Club head coach Ernesto Valverde warned that they cannot afford to take PFC Ludogorets lightly at the Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad, Bulgaria on Thursday evening (18:45 CET).
The Bulgarian champions currently lead their domestic league by nine points, and are unbeaten after 13 fixtures, but they are yet to win in the Europa League, their only point coming from an away draw against Viktoria Plzen.
"We're playing away from home against a team used to playing in Europe. They're desperate to win and it won't be easy," the gaffer said at his pre-match press conference.
"It's true that they only have one point, but despite losing against Anderlecht and Slavia Praha, they competed until the end and it was even."
Valverde said the Bulgarians are a team that "like to take control of the match" when offering his insights into their style of play.
He continued: "They have very fast and mobile players up front, they can surprise you on the counter-attack. They also dominate deadball situations with two very powerful centre-backs."
Over 500 Athleticzales have travelled to Razgrad for the fixture and Valverde hopes the side "will be up to the task of repaying the great effort the fans have put in" to get to Bulgaria.
When asked about the possibility of the upcoming derby against Real Sociedad (Sunday, November 24 - 21:00 CET) being rescheduled, Valverde replied: "We haven't received any official communication about it. In any case, it's obvious that we don't want to be at a disadvantage."
“We're going to have to play a very solid game”
Julen Agirrezabala, meanwhile, described Ludogorets as a very strong opponent.
He said: "They haven't lost a game in their league, they have scored a lot of goals and conceded only once. We will have to play a very solid game, with high levels of concentration."
The shotstopper insisted that the squad are not paying attention to the standings at the moment and are only concentrating on winning.
"Our objective is to finish as high up the table as possible," he added. "If we can get into the top eight, all the better, but the first thing is to qualify."