"There's an ambition to grow, an incredible desire to win"

In your first experience in Spain, what kind of Liga have you found?

A Liga that is very competitive, very tough, [with] good teams, players, good coaches, to win is difficult. A great challenge, a great challenge for us.

And what Valencia have you found?

Principally, I would describe Valencia with an ambition to grow, an incredible desire to win. That is what I have found and I hope that I too can contribute to the growth of that ambition.

Is there much difference between the club that you thought you were going to find and the one you have actually found upon your arrival?

The history is there, the tools to win are there, but what I found when I arrived was two years of sadness, of no success, but it’s true that when I arrived everyone knew that we were in a process of change, the process of the sale of the club, the arrival of a new owner…

All of these things together led us to start moving in the right direction and this is what I have tried to channel and achieve since my arrival. You always have to win each match, the people see it like so in Valencia, they know that we are a great club that should be in the Champions League, among the best. And this is pressure but at the same time it’s an obligation for the coaching staff that must prepare the team to win because all projects are always based on the same thing: on the team, if the team wins, the project goes forward and the team will be further developed. The foundations are the players and the team and my duty is to combine it.

Why were you chosen to command this project?

There is no special reason. I knew that he (Peter Lim) was going to be the new owner. I met him two years before coming here. Although I met Salvo, who was the one who decided I was the right person. I explained my idea about football and about work to them…and hoped that they liked it.

Do you think Valencia are capable of winning La Liga?

To fight. There is a big difference in Spain between the two big clubs and the rest. There are two champions. The players know it, therefore we need time for them to believe that we are going to be there. First we have to be in the Champions League, but I think that if the culture of the club continues to grow in this way next year it will be easier.

----------------------------------------------------------------- from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/1Ie7uUj