Ernesto Valverde casts his mind back to the tough defeat against Liverpool last season – and it is definitely a painful memory for him.
“Until Liverpool, we were having an incredible Champions League,” he told the club website.
“At Anfield, we had chances but they scored early on and psychologically we started worrying that what happened in Rome might happen again.
“There was a moment of weakness and we paid for it. It was one of the toughest moments of the year.”
“We must admit that the hit we took in Liverpool meant our morale was down going into the cup final. If we’d won against Liverpool, we’d have won the cup final too.”
“We won the last two leagues by a considerable margin, and that is something I view as a major success,” he added. “La Liga is usually much tighter with very little distance between teams.
“So, the way we won the last two leagues was not the normal way things happen. When it happens more than once, people start thinking that’s the norm.
“This year (2019/20) is tighter than other years. It’s harder to win games. Next year we need to be more on top of certain key moments, and we especially need to be careful not to leak two goals in a matter of minutes.”
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