Athletic stunned the football world by routing Barca 4-0 in the first leg of their Supercopa clash before then lifting the trophy after recording a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou.
Valverde freely admits that the Basques' confidence has been boosted by those two results but he is not expecting as easy a ride when Barca return to San Mames for their Primera Division opener.
"I reckon that we have another hard task ahead of us, playing against the favourites to win the league title," he told reporters.
"It will be a very tough game, but we will do our best to get the result we are looking for. There shouldn't be any great surprises in terms of our team selection but we could try some tactical changes to try to catch them out.
"However, with Barca, no matter how hard you try to do your thing, all you can end up doing is what they allow you to do.
"But we will go for the win. In these types of games, it's not only the physical state that's important, the mental state counts for a lot, too.
"The two Super Cup games give us a slight advantage because we were capable of facing up to them effectively, although pulling one over on them again won't be so easy."
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