Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde was pleased with a point against his former club Barcelona on Sunday night, as they kept the Blaugrana out in a 0-0 draw at San Mames. The Basque side were without Dani Vivian and Nico Williams through suspension, and Valverde had made seven changes to the side that beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the Copa del Rey on Thursday.
“For us it’s a great point. We know what it has cost us. There have been changes, we have had to put in players who have played less and we have changed Prados’ position. The players have responded, we have to evaluate what we had in front of us, we are delighted,” he explained to MD.
The game saw just four shots on target from both sides combined, with Joao Cancelo coming closest, after his lob was kept out by a double effort from goalkeeper Unai Simon and then Yeray Alvarez on the goal-line.
“It wasn’t a game of many chances, but a very hard-fought one, we all ended up quite exhausted by today’s effort and by the week we had. [We’re] Happy because we were playing against the league champions.”
Despite the series of changes and the absence of several key players, Barcelona found themselves unable to progress through midfield effectively without Frenkie de Jong and Pedri, in the face of the customary Athletic press. Left-back Imanol Garcia de Albeniz was satisfied with the continuity Athletic showed despite their rotations.
“We had no doubt that after Thursday’s game we could not fail against Barca, nor relax. It has also been seen that whoever plays, the team performs and that we all come together.”
While it is never an easy place to go, San Mames has only witnessed one Athletic defeat this season in the first game of the year against Real Madrid, but otherwise few sides have faced up to the atmosphere in Bilbao and ferocious press from Valverde’s men.
