Valverde "Our spirit is what makes Athletic different"

Despite having already booked a place in next season's Champions League, Ernesto Valverde envoked the "spirit" of Athletic Club while urging his players to stay ambitious and "secure fourth place and maybe more".

The Zurigorri face Valencia CF on the road - our final away day of the season - with the match coming just days after our midweek victory over Getafe CF at the Coliseum.

"We're very happy," Valverde said at his pre-match press conference.

"This is the second time we've qualified for the Champions League this century. It's a great achievement.

"If there's something that makes us different to the rest, it's our spirit. That helps us overcome a lot of setbacks and make things difficult for our opponents.

"To have some more energy, we will have to make some changes. We finished the match almost on Friday, we got back very late, today is Saturday and we have to travel again. Some players have played three back-to-back matches."

The gaffer highlighted Valencia's current "good form" when offering his analysis of our opposition.

He added: "They competed well on Wednesday and they'll be tough to beat

"You can see they're optimistic and confident. They've gone from being in a difficult spot to having a chance of getting into Europe, something which used to be routine at Valencia.

"It's their last home game and they'll want to finish well. We want to consolidate our fourth position and see if we can go further until the maths say otherwise.

"All teams are playing at the same time and we'll need to give it a go."