A shell-shocked Ernesto Valverde lauded Barcelona after seeing the Catalans romp to a 5-2 away win over his Athletic Bilbao.
Valverde spoke to reporters after the match and conceded Barca were superior, lamenting the goals that went against Los Leones and, as much as anything, the timing of them.
“It wasn’t a bad game if we take out the result. The end result looks very heavy,” he said, AS reports.
“They have great players in attack and had chances to score more goals, but the game went down a path where we were always penalised.
“There were times when it seemed we were going to tie the game, in the first half, but it went 0-2. It was the same in the second half, they went 1-3 and 1-4 up. We suffered too many blows.
“They are in great form and seem very focused. They’re an extraordinary team, better than us, but we wanted to compete.
“We tried to get them off their game but they used all their heavy artillery.”
