Ernesto Valverde believes that Athletic Bilbao are ‘more obligated’ to get a result against Real Betis tonight, but says it doesn’t make the match any harder.
Athletic host Los Beticos this evening in the midweek round of League fixtures off the back of a weekend defeat at Espanyol.
“If you go into a game on the back of a defeat then you are always more obligated to get a result, but it is not more difficult,” mused Valverde in his pre-match address.
“The difficulty of the game is the same, coming from a win or a loss. The mood can affect you one way or another, but the requirement is to win and we are more bound to do so than if we had won at Cornella-El Prat.
“We must get it right, but this does not mean that the players did not have a good attitude towards the game. That was demonstrated.
“But other characteristics of ours were lacking, we have a game that sometimes we fail to impose.
“Betis? They will try to pressure us up high and steal the ball. Celta Vigo [in Athletic’s last home game] retreated more.
“They have a fast forward-line and can counter-attack quickly. We have to be wary of Cedrick and Molina.
“Betis have had good results here in recent years because there have been open games. This one will not be as open, but it may be very fast.”
