Cillessen analyses Champions League opponents

Jasper Cillessen was one of the first Valencia CF players to give his reaction to the UEFA Champions League group stage draw -which pits his current club against a side with which he has plenty of history.

"I'm looking forward to playing against Ajax, of course. I spent five spectacular years there. I don't think there are many players from my time there now, but Ajax is Ajax and the philosophy never changes. There will be different players but the same way of playing," he said of the meeting with last year's semifinalists.

Of the other two teams in the group, Cillessen reflected that "Chelsea have a great team and a great history, plus it's very difficult to play in England. There is a chance of going through, but Lille have that chance too."

"Every game is important, be it the Champions League, Copa del Rey or LaLiga. I want to win, and we have to take things game by game. The day that you think 'This game isn't important and the next game is the Champions League, so let's take it easy...' that isn't possible to do against any team."

For now, however, the squad have their sights set on their weekend meeting with Mallorca in LaLiga.

"The atmosphere is good, although we're a little down about what happened to (Cristiano) Piccini. We're all there for him. The dressing room atmosphere is good and we want to win. The most important thing at the moment is us winning on Sunday.

"No game is easy. We saw that from the way Mallorca got promoted through the playoffs last season, fighting for the whole game. It won't be easy."