Athletic Bilbao coach Marcelino was happy with his players after their 0-0 draw against Valencia.

Los Rojiblancos dominated play, having three great chances to win the match in the second half, but were denied by Valencia shotstopper Giorgi Mamardashvili and the crossbar.

“There's a feeling of sadness as we didn't get the win, but we can't berate ourselves about the performance. The only thing we can be sad about is the result," Marcelino said at his post-match press conference.

“We gave our all and outplayed our opponents. They didn't even have half a chance at goal. When you draw at home, you're halfway to what you want. Today I think the team played very well. We had more chances than when we did against Atlético Madrid, but that's football.

“Whenever you get a point it's not bad. What we wanted was to win, but we're still in the fight for Europe. It's not as upsetting as what a loss would've been."

Despite creating opportunities to score, the Lions struggled to get into their groove against a Valencia side that looked to disrupt the rhythm of the match.

Marcelino said: “It was what we expected. A match with interruptions. Valencia are a very physical team, they put a lot of people behind the ball and don't take risks in their own half.

“We knew we were going to have to create and finish. I'm very pleased with our mentality and proud of how we worked. We knew how difficult this match was going to be. We needed more accuracy in the final third but we made goalscoring chances to win.

“We weren't able to convert them into goals and it's always sad when you don't win at home. I'm sorry for the players and the fans. It was a pity we didn't manage to make our superiority show on the scoreboard."