Barca won 2-0 in Jeddah via goals from Gavi and Lamine Yamal.
Valverde said later: "This match was an opportunity to reach the final, which we didn't achieve. Barcelona is a great team with a lot of resources. We tried and did the best we could and tried to keep the game alive. Nothing more.
"We didn't play well at the start of both halves. We had a hard time adapting and they scored the first goal and at the end of the first half we felt good. It was a very fast game. The players were very tired. They had the feeling of moving forward and then having to go back. I don't know if they felt wet but you could tell they were very tired."
On Nico Williams' absence, the coach explained: "Nico hasn't trained for two days and yesterday he was practically ruled out , but today he's woken up better and that's why I've taken him out. I didn't think he would be able to play."