Ernesto Valverde has been very satisfied with the triumph of his team that will allow the Europa League semifinals to play. “Our idea was to enforce that we played in San Mamés, we had to put a high pace. They were waiting for a against, we had options to mark before and it has been in the last play in which we have put ourselves ahead. We arrived clearly, as the game has passed we have accused the effort but we have known how to maintain the advantage,” said the coach.
“Now we are in the semifinals, but we had the same possibilities when we did not mark in three games in a row. Today it was a very special day, we wanted to push him knowing that there was going to be an extraordinary environment as it has been. We have succeeded in the last play of the first half but we have generated to win it,” he added.
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Athletic will play the third European semifinals in its history. What do you feel? “I touch and I’m the same,” he joked. “It is clear that it was a game marked in the calendar, we know what the finals mean for our fans and we know how difficult it is to be able to reach them. We must overcome many difficulties, a goal in the last minute in Rome, the Glasgow game that left us bittersweet taste … the possibility is there and we have to try until the end,” he said about the game for the title that will be played in San Mamés on May 21.
The coach has also pointed out what he liked the most: “We are always interested in that the matches have rhythm because we always handle ourselves in those situations. What I liked most is the determination to go for the encounter from the first minute, they were doing their game but we did not let them run and we have been able to attack. We have been fine, I would say very well.”
How do Athletic coach always be? “When you end and desire you well, the victories to the coaches relax us. Over time you see the transcendence it has, the joy you transmit to the people. That is the greatness of football, that people are happy to put a goal, look what nonsense. The transcendence I see it over time. We have deservedly passed and we can play it anywhere.”
