Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde says Girona deserved victory on Friday night.

Second-half goals from David López and Iván Martín saw Girona take a 2-0 lead before Gorka Guruzeta pulled one back for Los Rojiblancos with around ten minutes to go.

"It was our worst match of the season so far," Valverde said at his post-match press conference.

"From the first minute Girona were better organised on the pitch and we were very flat in our performance. We didn't inject enough pace into the match and they had the better chances.

"Our shortcomings are more evident when we don't place with a high-tempo. We came here off the back of a good match, and today it was the opposite. It was a deserved defeat."

He continued: "We couldn't find solutions to deal with a team that sat back. We couldn't find the space we needed and every they stole possession, they created goal-scoring situations. The intensity wasn't right for us, it wasn't what we needed to win this match."