Introducing CL home game against Juventus, Valencia boss Marcelino stated: "We are facing the best team in Italy, without a doubt. This is what the results say in the league, the Cup, and in the Champions League. I believe there are no countries where everyone plays the same: each one does it in their style, and Juventus are a winning team, very competitive, that optimize their resources. They won a lot of national leagues with relative ease, succeeding in managing difficult situations. We are facing a great team for history, and certainly one of the main candidates to fight for the Champions League.
It is a privilege to take part into Champions League as Valencia boss. It is a dream coming true, after many years of coaching. However, when the ball starts rolling, it's just another game: I face them with the same energy, putting solutions to the game and with the ambition to win.
CL and Liga are different competitions, and we are going to face both with the top of ambition. This club, the players, the technician and the fans have joined a lot to enjoy this moment and we will not let it pass. We are going to try to give the maximum possible competitive level, and we are concerned about not overacting, in order to be able to perform according to our capacity, and, if we are going to fail, it is excess, not defect. We are waiting to live the atmosphere of Mestalla, we will compete from minute 1 to 90, with all our will to win.
When it comes to face Juventus, we know they are a team which doesn't expose themselves to danger much. They are a careful team, it knows how to wait for its moment. They take advantage from the opponents' mistakes, exploiting what rivals fail, and we must be worried about not making them. It is not easy to put them in difficulties for their collective rapid group and their individual quality, we will try to press where we can be more effective to create more problems, attacking with speed and daring.
We would be confused if we mix the two competitions. We have to enjoy and compete in the Champions League and not be distracted by almost nothing or nothing from Liga. We haven't had a great start, we did not expect it, but we have only lost one game. We have to improve, it's obvious, but this is a different competition, with six matches where we will fight to pass.
Our mentality is to play every game to win it, we are not going to give up anything. We know the potential of the teams that we are going to face, we are to compete and try to pass this group stage, we think about winning at Juventus and then we will think about the next game. We do not let go on anything.
Allegri is a coach who has been playing Champions for nine consecutive seasons. He is one of the most prestigious football managers in Europe. Anyway, we all agree that the players are the main part of this game. We, as trainers, can give more or less to the organization, but we all agree that the players are the most important".
Source: transfermarketweb.com