Victory a must for Valencia

Valencia coach Unai Emery said his team are focused solely on beating Bayer Leverkusen in their Champions League clash on Wednesday.

The Spanish side are hoping to gain some ground on their Bundesliga opponents who are currently a point ahead of them in the Group E standings.

Emery has stressed the importance of the game and believes the Germans will be a fighting force for second place in the group behind Chelsea, who top the group ahead of their match against Genk.

“We still have four group matches to play. We think that Bayer Leverkusen will be our toughest competitors for second place,” the coach is quoted as saying on uefa.com.

“Whoever is second after the two next matches are obviously favourites, but then there are two more games to be played.”

“We must not forget that we have not won a single match so far. Tomorrow, we play to win, that’s our only intention.”

“We have to focus our energy on this single goal, we will have to reach our short-term goals.”

Critics have questioned Valencia’s ambitions after selling key players like Juan Mata to Chelsea in the off-season.

However, Emery believes the hunger in his squad is visible, and hopes the Champions League provides a window for them to display it.

“We are still in development. Players with a lot of international experience have left us, but now we have new hungry players who want to go as far as the generation before,” Emery said.

“This is the chance tomorrow. But we also need patience and time and know that we have a lot of work to do.”

“We have to remain stable in defence while at the same time improving our attack, there has to be a balance we still have to find.”

“Players like (Juan) Mata are not here anymore; many people are at the beginning of this new road.”