Valverde: "We worked really hard"
Valverde: "We worked really hard"
The gaffer couldn't fault the team's effort after a hard-fought loss in Madrid, with Athletic pushing the hosts until the very end
Ernesto Valverde's praised his side's spirit and work ethic after they fell to a late 1-0 defeat against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday night.
A much-changed Athletic team put up a great fight against Carlo Ancelotti's Los Blancos, but Fede Valverde grabbed a stoppage-time winner with a thunderous strike.
The gaffer said: “In the first half we didn't have many problems, but in the second half, as the game went on, they pushed more up further forward and we started to get tired. We had the chance to surprise them, but we also dropped off a bit.
"Their players have great quality. We did an incredible job working hard to close down the spaces until their goal. Now we have to move on and keep going."
The Zurigorri coach was especially pleased with how his players followed their tactical instruction and stuck a game plan devised around keeping "the game open for as long as possible".
"We had to set up our game knowing that we had just played on Thursday," he added.
"When we've come here on other occasions and pressed a bit higher, they've created problems for us on the counter because they're a very dangerous team with space.