With three Spanish sides in the Europa League quarter-finals, the Valencia forward was happy to draw Dutch side http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AZ-c38571 Alkmaar in the quarter-finals.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/PSV-c40281 Eindhoven.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 has the largest representation among the last eight, with Athletic Bilbao comprehensively beating Manchester United and Atletico Madrid who got the better of Besiktas.
With the quarter-final draws pitting the Spanish sides against clubs with different nationalities, Valencia take on the challenge of Dutch Eredivisie leaders, AZ Alkmaar.
Reflecting on the situation, Los Che attacker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aritz-Aduriz-c6516, stated they are happy to have avoided fellow La Liga sides. The 31-year-old forward did not play down their other opponents, praising the likes of Schalke and Hannover for their strong mentality
and attacking instincts.
Aduriz added that in their pursuit of European glory, Valencia cannot afford to underestimate any team least of all AZ Alkmaar, who lead the Dutch topflight points table.
"We wanted to avoid both Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid," Aduriz said while responding to questions at a press conference.
"We know that Schalke are strong, too, Hannover as well. We can't underestimate any team, they all deserve to be here.”
"We knew there were strong teams in the draw. We are going to have to fight. AZ are a tough rival and we can't take anything for granted because they are first in their league."
Aduriz revealed Valencia’s final aim is to reach the final of the second tier European club competition, and will take one step at a time to achieve their goal.
"Our objective is to get to the final, but we'll take it step by step. We have a good chance to go far in the tournament, we have total respect for AZ, but they are the team we have drawn and we have to be happy about that."
After earning a hard-earned 1-1 draw against PSV Eindhoven, Valencia returned their focus to La Liga. Los Che earned a valuable away win at San Mames (against Bilbao), thanks to a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-Soldado-c31367 hat-trick against the Basque entity.
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