Battle: Inaki Williams
Arsenal Football Newsletter
Late goals from substitutes Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard secured a 2-0 win in San Mames, but the Gunners struggled to convince for much of the game.
Williams, though, has seen enough and expects Arsenal to again be in the mix to lift the European Cup at the end of the season, having last year lost eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals.
"The result doesn’t reflect what the match was like because we played a good game. In the end, it’s Arsenal, one of the favourites in this competition,” Williams told Movistar.
"We fought, we gave it our all, and today it wasn’t to be.
"There are seven more games left, and what’s clear is that Athletic didn’t come here to enjoy this competition, but to compete in it. I think we made a hard effort today, and it didn’t help much.
"They have a lot of quality. We knew this before the start, that world-class players can kill the game in two isolated plays.
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"We were far superior in the first half, but they weren’t comfortable at all. It’s true that after the 1-0 draw, we were a little down in spirit, but we still kept pushing and competing."