Athletic look to extend Valverde's losing streak in San Mamés
The current Barcelona boss has never won a league game against Athletic in seven attempts as a player and a coach, with one Copa draw in Bilbao.
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde will return to San Mamés on Saturday for the first time since taking the reins at Barcelona in the summer with a record pending for the Extremaduran coach to break.
Valverde, who managed more games at the helm of Athletic than any coach in history, has never been on the winning side in Bilbao as a visiting player or coach after seven attempts.
Valverde's San Mamés blank
When the former forward was playing for Espanyol his side played twice at San Mamés, losing 2-1 in 1986-87 and 2-0 the following season.
In 1988 Valverde completed a rare move across the city of Barcelona to Camp Nou but was unable to taste victory in Bilbao in his one Liga appearance there, Barça losing 3-2 in 1988-89.
As a coach Valverde has fared little better and after he made the move from Athletic to Espanyol his old side maintained their hoodoo, beating the Parakeets 2-1 in 2006-07 and 1-0 in 2007-08.
In 2009-10, as coach of Villarreal, Valverde watched his side go down 3-2 in San Mamés and three seasons later, as Valencia boss, a single Iker Muniain goal was enough to extend his unwanted record.
Only once has Valverde left San Mamés with anything other than a defeat to mull over, but not in LaLiga. In the 2007-08 Copa del Rey Espanyol managed a draw in San Mamés but were knocked out in the return leg at Montjuic with the Lios going through on penalties.
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