Athletic Bilbao Coach Jose Angel Ziganda hailed his side’s display at Real Madrid but admitted frustration at not seeing out the victory.
Cristiano Ronaldo levelled for the European champions three minutes from time to deny Athletic a memorable victory, having taken the lead through Inaki Williams.
“Madrid are favourites to win the Champions League again, so a draw is clearly not a bad result and I am proud,” Ziganda told reporters after the match, as cited by Marca.
“However it was painful to throw away our winning position so late on, it is never easy to take having a historic result moved away.
“We knew before the game that our goalkeeper would need to be fantastic and they would need to be below par but our performance was close to perfect.
“Madrid apply so much pressure but our defence stood strong and despite not winning, I have positive feelings having seen the diligence of my team.
“Kepa? He is clearly a fantastic goalkeeper and we are so happy to have him, he has trained very well recently and is a key member of our team.
“Inaki? We trust him, he has not played regularly for a long time but he is building good habits and our plan is to start him regularly.”
