Gaya keen for Valencia cruch tie to arrive

Valencia defender Jose Luis Gaya on Monday highlighted the importance of defending the lead they took at home to Monaco on Tuesday night and qualifying for a place in the group stage of the Champions League.

Valencia beat Monaco 3-1, but were made to work hard by the French side who had the advantage of the French league season having kicked off a fortnight before Spain.

That result from the Mestalla Stadium means that Monaco would knock Valencia out if they could beat the Spanish side 2-0, meaning that an away goal for Valencia would make a huge difference to the tie.

"The best thing would be for us to score a goal, because I think that would be definitive, but we know we have to perform well in every aspect of the match," commented the young left back in a pre-game press conference.

Qualification for the Champions league would see Valencia return to Europe's most important club competition for the first time in three years and confirm the improvement they showed when they finished fourth in Spain' s BBVA Primera Liga behind, Barca, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

"It is a really important game for all of us, maybe the most important of our careers. We all want the game to come around as soon as possible, We know that the tie is not decided by any means and we have to go out to look to win from the start," he said. Endi