Cesare Prandelli has lashed out at former club Valencia and the football on display in Spain, labelling the latter 'monotonous' after he resigned as manager of the La Liga side.
The Italian boss lasted just 10 games in the job before handing in his resignation to the club's board, with Valencia picking up just one league win in the eight matches in Spain's top flight during his ill-fated spell in charge.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Prandelli was quizzed on the differences between La Liga and Serie A and, whilst the 59-year-old admitted that players in Spain were technically superior to those in his homeland, heclaimed that most sides in the Iberian peninsula were tactically boring in comparison to their European neighbours.
"The technical basis is very high in Spain, nobody can challenge it. The play is organised, structured, they work on possession and always choose solutions and offensive players.
"In training they practice a ˜bull' tactic which is an evolution of one of ours. They never speculate about advantage, they playing up to 90 minutes.
"Indeed, anything goes in the last minute and the fans expects it. But tactically they are more monotonous. They all play with a 4-2-3-1, although sometimes it is disguised. But this is the system. We are technically inferior, we seek more solutions and we run more, whereas they have less intensity."
Prandelli also divulged the reason behind his departure from the Mestalla stadium, claiming that the club's board had undermined him during his three-month tenure, especially when it came to discussing potential transfer targets in the January window , including West Ham loanee and Juventus forward Simone Zaza.
He added: "I could not stay at Valencia. I was undermined [by the club] towards both the team and the fans. I been had promised reinforcements, an investment of 30 million which was then very much reduced. I had been to Singapore to talk to the hierarchy.
"I said: ˜There are problems, I need at least one striker, two midfield players, and a strong defender.' The answer was ˜OK'. And then I went for Zaza, who was ideal for my project.
"We were close with Juve. I talked to his father, Antonio, and asked permission to contact Simone. He has character, personality, we had the agreement and was due to arrive on the 28th [December] for the first training session.
"I could not waste time. Instead the club blocked everything all and on 29th December, the Vice President said by video conference: ˜You have 24 hours to choose a midfielder or a striker.'
"But I said ˜a striker has already been chosen!' No reply. Then I took 24 hours of reflection and then I resigned. We did not sign a player, he had already been chosen. The mission was over."
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