Baffled Ernesto Valverde can’t understand the criticism aimed at his Atheltic Bilbao side for failing to beat ten man Rangers.
The Basque side were forced to settle for a goalless draw in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final first leg clash after having a goal ruled out and a penalty awarded instead, which was saved by Liam Kelly.
Barry Ferguson takes his team to the San Mames for the second leg this coming Thursday, knowng they’ll have to score to have a chance to booking a semi-final spot against either Manchester Utd or Lyon.
Gers even finished the game with nine men after Dujon Sterling was forced off through injury.
But former Barcelona boss Valverde has been left puzzled after a hostile reaction in the Spanish media for only drawing against a Rangers side who had to play for the majority of the game with ten men after Robin Propper was dismissed.
He said: “I don’t know, I don’t understand, we haven’t been successful? If we score the penalty, it’s a different story.
“We didn’t create scoring chances against Villarreal in the game before that, but we did at Rangers.
“Rangers closed us down and defended really well.
“We didn’t get everything right, that’s true, but it was a better result than at Roma, where we lost the first leg.
“It was just that we couldn’t take advantage of the numerical advantage
“We’re a team that attacks a lot, but sometimes we struggle to create chances.
“But we are definitely a team who are capable of scoring goals.”
