GARCÍA PIMIENTA: "WITHOUT WINNING DUELS OR MATCHING THEIR INTENSITY, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN"

First-team head coach, Xavi García Pimienta, analysed the defeat in Vitoria on Friday night: "The opponents behaved as they always do, winning duels, second balls... we had warned the players about it. We knew of their potential. We knew if we didn't match that, they were going to be on top and that's how it was. Everything went their way, they scored a goal and even had another disallowed. By half-time, we were really struggling. We managed to offer some threat in the opposition half after the break, as Dodi [Lukebakio]'s goal showed, but if you don't match the intensity of a team like that, you will always lose."

"Isaac's injury disrupted the game because another player had to come on without warming up, but I don't think it had a huge influence on our performace, I think the result would have been the same regardless. The break helped us realise how badly we were doing, so when we came back out we improved and came close through Saúl's play. They put another one in and we kept trying, but there was little time left," he added.

Pimienta concluded by summarising how "Alavés are honest and don't stop fighting. Without matching that intensity it's impossible to win. Once we corrected that, we were closer and had more of the ball and came close to an equaliser, but their second came from another lost game and made things very difficult."