Cheryshev: "We were serious in defence and took an important victory"

Denis Cheryshev had an excellent performance at San Mames against Athletic Club, helping Valencia CF to their second victory of the season with his goal on 27 minutes. The Russian became the first man to score at the Basque ground for an away side this season.

The versatile attacker had only featured as a substitute against Getafe CF in midweek, and was fresh for a starting role on Saturday afternoon. He created several chances and had opportunities to score more goals himself as the game progressed, before he was subbed off to give minutes to Ruben Sobrino late on.

"We started off very well in this game," Cheryshev explained to Movistar LaLiga after the final whistle. "We had a fairly good first half in which we were very solid. Athletic didn't enjoy practically any opportunities on goal."

"In the second half we struggled more, but we played very seriously in defence and took away a very important victory."

The goal was Cheryshev's first in LaLiga since the 3-0 win over Villarreal in January, and in all domestic competitions since a 0-2 victory against Celtic on February 14th in the Europa League.