Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu vouched for coach Ernesto Valverde after their Copa del Rey final defeat to Valencia.

Bartomeu pointed out that the Catalan giants won the league and that can’t be played down. Further, he claimed that the defeat in the cup final was not Valverde’s fault.

“We’ve been thinking about next season for some time, but this isn’t the moment to explain what will happen,” he said after the match, according to Marca.

“We won the league, so it has been an important season.

“Valverde has a contract and is the coach.

“This defeat was not the fault of our coach.

“We had many chances and the ball didn’t go in.”

The president reiterated that this season can’t be seen as a failure and it was a case of just a couple of bad games.

“I wouldn’t consider this season a failure,” he insisted.

“It was very good without being excellent.

“We lost a couple of matches here and at Anfield that cost us two titles.”