Former Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde says the Catalans' Copa del Rey loss to Athletic Club last Thursday was 'very similar' to the league defeat at San Mames on the opening day of the season.
Valverde, who was sacked by Barca in January and replaced by Quique Setien, appeared in public on Thursday for the first time since his dismissal as he collected an award at the Bilbao International Football Summit.
"I haven't watched much football these last few weeks," he said. "I have kept my distance with what's happening but when you're going 200 per hour at a club, you can't go from that to nothing.
"Yesterday I watched parts of the Copa [del Rey] semi-final, on television. But the only full match I've seen this month was Athletic-Barcelona in Copa."
"It's always hard to watches the teams you have coached recently," said Valverde, who has grown a beard since leaving Barca. "But the match in the quarter-finals of the Copa is very similar to the one we had in the first league game of the season at San Mames."
But he added: "I don't want to generate controversy with that because I don't want it to lead to any conclusion."
Valverde, who won back-to-back league titles with Barcelona, was asked what his most special trophy had been and said: "If I stop and look back, for everything it meant to the people, winning the Supercopa for Athletic against Barcelona was special.
"I'm an Athletic fan and coaching your club makes winning and losing even stronger."
The 56-year-old has had two tenures at Athletic already and, asked if he would return for a third spell, he said: "I have just had a birthday and I see young coaches like [Gaizka] Garitano, [Joseba] Etxeberria and [Andoni] Iraola. They are the future."
