Ernesto Valverde hailed his 'dominant' Athletic Bilbao side following Friday’s 3-1 victory over Espanyol in La Liga.
The Basque outfit climbed into the top half of the League standings courtesy of their win against the Catalonians, which marked the return of striker Aritz Aduriz, who netted the opening goal and set up Borja Viguera's clincher.
“We struggled a lot in the early stages because our tempo was not high enough, and we were suffering because we dominated but lacked fluency in advanced areas,” Valverde considered to reporters after the match.
“Therefore we did very well to go 1-0 up because we played with more rhythm. 2-0 put us at ease.
“I would have liked to have given [Aduriz] less time on the pitch because he just came back from an injury, but I needed a bigger attacking threat than just a player in the hole.
“We dominated the game, but we lacked force in our attacks. The idea was to field decisive players up top, and this would then transform into goals.
“I think the three goals we scored corresponded with the team's play, and it's important that players like Viguera or [Ander] Iturraspe join [the attack] on the hour mark.”
