The coach of Athletic Club, Ernesto Valverde, said on Friday about their opponent in the last qualifying round for the Europa League, the Slovakian team Zilina, that within the red and white team they do not think "it's going to be easy" to surpass them, even though they have "the advantage of playing the second leg at San Mames", they are aware that their opponent "is a team that scores goals" and that they come in a time of "very consecutive matches".
"We want to advance and we have the advantage, in quotes, of playing the second leg at San Mames, but of course we do not think it's going to be easy. We have to give our all. At the beginning of the season we have Supercup matches against Barcelona and the start of the league with the Europa League, and they all come very close together", valued Valverde about the opponent, in statements provided by the club.
In that sense, he continued explaining that "for the general public, Zilina may be an unknown team", although for his coaching staff "not so much" because "in recent years they have competed in Europe, won the league two seasons ago and last season they were runners-up".
"Within the reference of Slovakian football, we recently played against Slovan Bratislava, and despite knowing a little bit about football there, we still don't know some players and we have to catch up", added 'Txingurri' about the analysis of their opponent.
Finally, the coach stressed that their opponent "has already started the league and has played two matches with two big wins" so they are "a team that scores goals" with some ease, so they will have to be careful with them and not just focus on the fact that "they qualified somewhat agonizingly for this phase, in extra time, and with a goal in the last minute".