Alvaro Negredo commended Valencia on reaching their objective of the Champions League group stage after Monaco were beaten over two legs.
Negredo netted in the second leg as Los Che slumped to a 2-1 defeat but it wasn’t enough to overturn their 3-1 first leg win.
“It was our goal to progress and despite the defeat we’ve achieved that. The advantage of Mestalla helped us and we’re in,” he said, AS reports.
“It was important to score away and we did that early. That helped us be calm. In the second half they went ahead and we were tired but luckily we endured.
“I’ve been lucky enough to visit the best stadiums with Manchester City. We know we’ll be against the best in Europe. We want to enjoy it and go as far as possible.”
Negredo was given the nod over Paco Alcacer and revealed how he was informed of his starting role by Nuno Santo.
“The Coach told me today. I wasn’t sure, I knew I might start, and in the end he told me and I tried to respond in the best way,” he continued.
“I want to dedicate the goal to my family, my friends, the people who have been with me for better or worse.
“Suffering is in the past. I have to enjoy this and continue working hard. I put in a good performance on Saturday but I was unlucky not to score. Today I had my reward.”
