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Analysis: How Ernesto Valverde led Athletic Club to their first Copa in 40 years

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Athletic Club are one of just three founding members of the Spanish Primera División who have never been relegated, the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona. What is even more impressive is that they have maintained that record with a policy of only signing Basque players that dates back over a century. Of course, this has limited their ability to compete with the giants in Spain, but this season, they have shown the world that they still have the ability to lift silverware.

By Neel Shelat

For those who are not so clued up on the history of Spanish football, it may come as quite a surprise to learn that Athletic Club are actually the second-most successful club in the Copa del Rey. They have reached 40 finals and lifted the trophy 24 times, meaning only Barcelona have a better record than them.

The majority of their success came in the first half of the 20th century, and especially from 1960 onwards, things began to slow down. They did complete a memorable league-cup double in the 1983/84 season but failed to lift any major trophy for almost four decades thereafter.

In recent years, Athletic have established themselves as a solid upper mid-table LaLiga team who do compete for the European spots from time to time. They also won the Supercopa de España in 2016 and 2021 having qualified for it by reaching the Copa del Rey finals, but the trophy eluded them on five occasions within a decade from 2011 onwards.

That has finally changed this time around as Ernesto Valverde oversaw a successful Copa del Rey run that culminated in a victory on penalties against Mallorca. So, in this week’s analysis column, we are taking a look at how they did it.

Super Solid Defending

A solid defence is often the key to success. Especially in knockout competitions, being tough to score against is one of the best attributes a team can have, so it should be no surprise that Athletic Club kept five clean sheets en route to the Copa del Rey final. Under Valverde, they have reaped the rewards of prioritising the defensive side of things.

With a possession average of under 50% in the league, their game model has clearly been designed in a way to play to their defensive strengths. At the moment, they have the joint-most clean sheets in LaLiga having kept a shut-out in half of their matches so far.

Their underlying numbers are just as impressive, as Athletic’s xG conceded tally of 30.5 placing them as the third best defence in this respect, ever so slightly behind Barcelona.

Without the ball, Valverde asks his team to set up in a 4-4-2 block with the number 10 joining the striker up front to create this shape out of what is a 4-2-3-1 formation on paper. Compactness between the lines and cohesiveness in movement are the first principles of their defensive approach, and they have undoubtedly worked very hard on this in training. At this point, their players are so well-tuned to their defensive tactics that their block almost seems to function as a unit.

This excellent cohesiveness enables Athletic to defend high up the pitch without having their defensive line exposed in behind. Their intention is to keep their opponents’ possession as far away from the goal as possible. The fact that they have made the third-fewest clearances in LaLiga this season illustrates their success in this respect, as they rarely have to defend deep, or clear their lines in desperation.

At the same time, Valverde’s tactics also involve the setting of clever pressing traps to lure their opponents into trying to build out from the back before winning the ball high up the pitch. For this reason, Athletic do not start with an overly proactive press but instead let their opponents play a couple of passes. The wingers in particular start a touch deeper to encourage their opponents to access the wide areas, but the moment they play a pass out to their full-back or wing-back, the press is triggered. With intense collective movements to squeeze out the space around the ball, Athletic are very often successful at generating turnovers in the opposition third either by tackling out wide or by cutting out attempted passes into midfield.

Through these pressing traps, Athletic are also able to supplement their attacking output from defensive positions. Their tally of eight goal-ending high turnovers is the best in the division this season – accounting for 16% of their goals scored.

Williams-Power Up Front

Thanks to their incredible defensive solidity, Athletic Club do not need to blow teams away in attack. Just one or two goals are enough for them to win matches, so their average of 1.7 goals per game is especially good given the context of their tactical approach.

While Athletic certainly have the capability and player quality to gradually play out from the back – which is what they do against teams that set up to defend deep – they are also happy to be more direct against teams that look to press them. Either way, their attacks are ultimately focused down the flanks where they have serious star power in the form of the two Williams brothers.

Iñaki and Nico are the team’s most important players by a number of metrics, especially when it comes to creation. They are the top two in terms of (chances created 41 and 39 respectively), joint top with eight big chances created each and also first and second as far as Expected Assists are concerned. Their output is right up there as well with 23 goal involvements between the pair.

Better yet, the two have different profiles which make them better suited to different situations.

The elder Iñaki, who has played over 30,000 competitive minutes for Athletic so far and set a world record of 251 consecutive league appearances in the process, is a very intelligent forward whose off-ball movement in behind and into the box enable him to consistently get into dangerous positions. His finishing can still leave a little to be desired, but a return of nine league goals this season is nothing to sneeze at.

These traits make Iñaki especially effective against high pressing teams and in big games, which is why he registered two goal involvements each in Athletic’s cup wins over Barcelona and Atlético Madrid en route to the final.

Young Nico, on the other hand, is a more exciting winger who loves to dribble with the ball at his feet, can beat defenders either way and is most effective at chance creation.

For this reason, the Spanish international makes more of an impact against teams that defend in a deeper block. Indeed, he starred against the Mallorca in the cup final and provided the assist for Athletic’s equaliser.

The summer signing of Gorka Guruzeta has also proven to be a valuable addition to Athletic’s attack which produces the second-most crosses in the division. A real fox in the box, his club-high return of 13 league goals has primarily come from being in the right place at the right time in and around the six-yard box.

In addition to these three, the likes of Álex Berenguer and Oihan Sancet ensure Athletic Club have enough attacking quality to unlock opposing defences while their own remains formidable.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game in LaLiga live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Analysis: How Ernesto Valverde led Athletic Club to their first Copa in 40 years

Athletic Club are one of just three founding members of the Spanish Primera División who have never been relegated, the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona. What is even more impressive is that they have maintained that record with a policy of only signing Basque players that dates back over a century. Of course, this has limited their ability to compete with the giants in Spain, but this season, they have shown the world that they still have the ability to lift silverware.

By Neel Shelat

For those who are not so clued up on the history of Spanish football, it may come as quite a surprise to learn that Athletic Club are actually the second-most successful club in the Copa del Rey. They have reached 40 finals and lifted the trophy 24 times, meaning only Barcelona have a better record than them.

The majority of their success came in the first half of the 20th century, and especially from 1960 onwards, things began to slow down. They did complete a memorable league-cup double in the 1983/84 season but failed to lift any major trophy for almost four decades thereafter.

In recent years, Athletic have established themselves as a solid upper mid-table LaLiga team who do compete for the European spots from time to time. They also won the Supercopa de España in 2016 and 2021 having qualified for it by reaching the Copa del Rey finals, but the trophy eluded them on five occasions within a decade from 2011 onwards.

That has finally changed this time around as Ernesto Valverde oversaw a successful Copa del Rey run that culminated in a victory on penalties against Mallorca. So, in this week’s analysis column, we are taking a look at how they did it.

Super Solid Defending

A solid defence is often the key to success. Especially in knockout competitions, being tough to score against is one of the best attributes a team can have, so it should be no surprise that Athletic Club kept five clean sheets en route to the Copa del Rey final. Under Valverde, they have reaped the rewards of prioritising the defensive side of things.

With a possession average of under 50% in the league, their game model has clearly been designed in a way to play to their defensive strengths. At the moment, they have the joint-most clean sheets in LaLiga having kept a shut-out in half of their matches so far.

Their underlying numbers are just as impressive, as Athletic’s xG conceded tally of 30.5 placing them as the third best defence in this respect, ever so slightly behind Barcelona.

Without the ball, Valverde asks his team to set up in a 4-4-2 block with the number 10 joining the striker up front to create this shape out of what is a 4-2-3-1 formation on paper. Compactness between the lines and cohesiveness in movement are the first principles of their defensive approach, and they have undoubtedly worked very hard on this in training. At this point, their players are so well-tuned to their defensive tactics that their block almost seems to function as a unit.

This excellent cohesiveness enables Athletic to defend high up the pitch without having their defensive line exposed in behind. Their intention is to keep their opponents’ possession as far away from the goal as possible. The fact that they have made the third-fewest clearances in LaLiga this season illustrates their success in this respect, as they rarely have to defend deep, or clear their lines in desperation.

At the same time, Valverde’s tactics also involve the setting of clever pressing traps to lure their opponents into trying to build out from the back before winning the ball high up the pitch. For this reason, Athletic do not start with an overly proactive press but instead let their opponents play a couple of passes. The wingers in particular start a touch deeper to encourage their opponents to access the wide areas, but the moment they play a pass out to their full-back or wing-back, the press is triggered. With intense collective movements to squeeze out the space around the ball, Athletic are very often successful at generating turnovers in the opposition third either by tackling out wide or by cutting out attempted passes into midfield.

Through these pressing traps, Athletic are also able to supplement their attacking output from defensive positions. Their tally of eight goal-ending high turnovers is the best in the division this season – accounting for 16% of their goals scored.

Williams-Power Up Front

Thanks to their incredible defensive solidity, Athletic Club do not need to blow teams away in attack. Just one or two goals are enough for them to win matches, so their average of 1.7 goals per game is especially good given the context of their tactical approach.

While Athletic certainly have the capability and player quality to gradually play out from the back – which is what they do against teams that set up to defend deep – they are also happy to be more direct against teams that look to press them. Either way, their attacks are ultimately focused down the flanks where they have serious star power in the form of the two Williams brothers.

Iñaki and Nico are the team’s most important players by a number of metrics, especially when it comes to creation. They are the top two in terms of (chances created 41 and 39 respectively), joint top with eight big chances created each and also first and second as far as Expected Assists are concerned. Their output is right up there as well with 23 goal involvements between the pair.

Better yet, the two have different profiles which make them better suited to different situations.

The elder Iñaki, who has played over 30,000 competitive minutes for Athletic so far and set a world record of 251 consecutive league appearances in the process, is a very intelligent forward whose off-ball movement in behind and into the box enable him to consistently get into dangerous positions. His finishing can still leave a little to be desired, but a return of nine league goals this season is nothing to sneeze at.

These traits make Iñaki especially effective against high pressing teams and in big games, which is why he registered two goal involvements each in Athletic’s cup wins over Barcelona and Atlético Madrid en route to the final.

Young Nico, on the other hand, is a more exciting winger who loves to dribble with the ball at his feet, can beat defenders either way and is most effective at chance creation.

For this reason, the Spanish international makes more of an impact against teams that defend in a deeper block. Indeed, he starred against the Mallorca in the cup final and provided the assist for Athletic’s equaliser.

The summer signing of Gorka Guruzeta has also proven to be a valuable addition to Athletic’s attack which produces the second-most crosses in the division. A real fox in the box, his club-high return of 13 league goals has primarily come from being in the right place at the right time in and around the six-yard box.

In addition to these three, the likes of Álex Berenguer and Oihan Sancet ensure Athletic Club have enough attacking quality to unlock opposing defences while their own remains formidable.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game in LaLiga live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.