Shakhtar Donetsk Coach Mircea Lucescu felt Athletic Bilbao were the more motivated side after their 1-0 defeat to the Basques in Lviv.
The Ukrainians were aware before the game that they had already qualified for the next stage of the Champions League from Group H, Porto having beaten BATE Borisov 3-0 earlier in the evening, and Lucescu thought it contributed to his team’s performance.
“I have to congratulate Athletic. I guess my players were a bit more relaxed after the result came through from the BATE match and our opponents had more motivation,” he told reporters at a post-match Press conference.
“They worked very hard and that forced us to play a lot of long balls. They also showed great transition from defence to attack, although the pitch wasn’t perfect for us and didn’t allow our quick players to show their capabilities.”
Lucescu believes that errors from his players made Athletic’s job on the night a lot easier.
“We made a mistake at a set piece and generally the defeat was a result of our errors rather than Athletic’s efforts.
“Their tactics were not a surprise. At this level teams don’t change their style from game to game and it could have been different if we’d taken our opportunities.”
Mikel San Jose’s goal on 68 minutes means Athletic now have to avoid defeat in their final group game at home to BATE to claim a Europa League spot.
