Athletic Club were left frustrated on Thursday as they were held to a goalless draw by Rangers in their Europa League fixture at Ibrox Stadium. The two teams are meeting at the quarter-final stage of the competition, and after the first leg, it has remained evenly poised.
Athletic had a man advantage from early in the match, but they could not take advantage. This was very frustrating for head coach Ernesto Valverde, as he told the media post-match (via Diario AS).
“We played a large part of the game against ten, with our chances to score and we didn’t even score the penalty. There are times when you don’t get it right, the good thing is to have them. That’s football. Of course it doesn’t taste like much, playing with one more from the fifteenth minute, but… We have a better result than in Rome. We would have liked to have had a better result, but you have to know how to decide the qualifiers at the right time, although we are not happy.
“The tie had to be completed at San Mames. With the equality that exists, no one solves it in one game. It’s their credit to defend with ten players, we lacked that point of success, it’s difficult for us to open the can when the opponents close down a lot. We would have liked to win and score the penalty, but there’s a week left.”
Athletic will fancy themselves to win on their home turf very week, and should they do so, they would secure progression to the Europa League semi-finals. However, there is no doubt that they would have dearly loved to take an advantage back to San Mames, but in the end, it was not to be – despite the favourable circumstances.
