Valencia looked on course to salvage at least a draw against in-form Athletic Bilbao last night, but a last minute penalty allowed the Basque outfit to snatch all three points.
Despite twice blowing a lead, Los Ché coach, Unai Emery believed his players did well, but he was not too pleased with referee, Megía Dávila, who awarded the spotkick after Manuel Fernandes was adjudged to have fouled Javi Martínez.
“I regret to say that we were harmed by the penalty decision that gave Athletic the win,” he said after the game.
“There was a struggle in the area, but it’s a very harsh call by the referee.
“I do not have anything bad to say about my players. The team that came closest to winning was Valencia, but the late penalty has really hurt us.
“The draw would have been satisfactory, but in the end, we leave empty handed.
“On the positive side, we had the right mentality, we created a lot of chances and we were able to score two of them. The negative side is that we weren’t able to score more when we had the advantage,” he analysed.
Valencia still hold on to fourth place in the standings despite the loss, but they are now four points behind Sevilla [third] and Real Madrid [second] and an insurmountable 16 points adrift of leaders, Barcelona.
KS Leong, Goal.com
