Valverde: Athletic were outclassed

Ernesto Valverde admitted Porto were the better side as his Athletic Bilbao crashed out of the Champions League at San Mames.

The Bilbao boss saw his team outclassed by the Portuguese giants who had second-half goals from Jackson Martinez and Brahimi to thank for their victory, while they could even afford to miss a penalty just before the break.

“Porto were very strong and showed they are a great team. They demonstrated that they were better than us,” he told reporters after the match.

“We have to acknowledge that they were better, although in the second half we were closer to them. However, the speed of Tello and Brahimi created a lot of danger for us.

“We’d like to have continued in the competition for longer but sadly this is what we have. Our journey in the Champions League has not lasted very long so we are going to fight for third place in the group and try to get into the Europa League.

“We are encouraging the players in the dressing room because this has been a big blow,” he insisted.

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