Levante Coach Jose Luis Mendilibar said Athletic Bilbao sealed their win just after half-time and rued his side ending the match essentially a man down.
Athletic took a 2-0 win at San Mames to leave Levante with two defeats from as many games in the new season, but Mendilibar argued to reporters that his side were well in the tie until the second goal.
“They weren’t comfortable for quite a lot of the first half,” Marca reports Mendilibar as saying.
“It was 1-0 through the strategy of a great player such as Aduriz but 2-0 has more gravity because you can’t just walk it off.
“Everything was uphill after the second goal. David Navarro got injured [with 25 minutes left after Levante used all their substitutions] and he tried to help but could do little.
“We played the last 25 minutes with 10 men and we couldn’t do anything.”
