Valencia boss Marcelino declared himself “happy” with the 1-1 friendly draw against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday.
The Foxes took the lead on 11 minutes courtesy of Kelechi Iheanacho, only for Los Che captain Dani Parejo to equalise seven minutes later with a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
“We played at a high tempo on a good pitch and it was very demanding against typical English opponents who press a lot,” Marcelino told reporters post-match.
“I think that for a pre-season game we reached a good level. They scored early on, but we came back well and in the first half we could have increased the advantage.
“After the break we suffered a bit as we made some changes, but we finished the game well. In general, I’m happy with the way my team played.”
Marcelino is aware the pre-season is primarily concerned with getting players fit, but insists he likes what he has seen from his team so far.
“For me the most important thing is to go into the first official match in good condition. Now we must keep progressing game-by-game.
“Pre-season is a time to bring everything together, to get to know each other and forget about the holidays, and I’m sure we are getting better every day.
“Tonight we didn’t allow our opponents many chances, although perhaps they maybe had one or two in the second half, but not much more than that.
“That means we were good defensively and I’m going away happy,” he concluded.
