Valencia boss Mauricio Pellegrino insisted the 3-0 Champions League victory over BATE Borisov had given his players renewed confidence.
However, the Argentine admitted that despite the result and his team being level on six points with both BATE and Bayern Munich, Los Che still did not have one foot in the next stage of the competition.
“There are three teams with six points and there is still a lot to play for, but it was an important win as a draw would have left us in an uncomfortable position and gave them the feeling a point wasn’t bad.
“The group is still open,” Pellegrino told assembled reporters, before asserting that the game changed when his team went 1-0 up.
“Things changed when Soldado got the first but winning is a major confidence booster for us after a very irregular streak on the road. Every game from now on is going to be a final.
“Having confidence does not ensure victory, however, because you need to have that as well as being compact, as we showed today against opponents who had five attackers.
“We created difficulties for them and looked to play on the counter-attack, which is why it was very important to defend well. The team can improve a lot but today we were very focused.”
Pellegrino also had words of praise for Roberto Soldado, who scored a hat-trick, stressing he had not enjoyed the luck in previous games that he did against BATE.
“More important than the goals were the positions he got himself into. Today three went in but on other days they haven’t.
“We must now continue in this manner and I hope this result serves to strengthen us,” he concluded.
