Duro: "Recent points give us confidence and strength"

Striker Hugo Duro has had a busy seven days, which have included a super sub appearance to score twice from off the bench against Atletico Madrid, and his 22nd birthday on Wednesday. 

The Spaniard sat down with VCF Media to talk about his time at Valencia CF so far. 

Adapting to Valencia CF 

In the short time that I've spent here, I've felt very welcomed by my teammates. Day-to-day life here is wonderful and I have a great time. Besides that, on a professional level coming here is priceless. In terms of my form, things have been going pretty well; it's true that the team could have taken better results, and there is a bittersweet feeling that we've done a lot of things well, but should have got more points. We're here to improve and to get better results. 

Moving to a new club and city 

It was the first time I'd left Madrid. I didn't know what it was going to be like in a new place, away from my parents, friends and family in general. For the moment, I don't have any complaints. My teammates have been very helpful. In terms of the team, this is a leap up for me, because Valencia CF are one of Spain's biggest teams. Having the opportunity to play here, even if it's just for this year, is something that I really appreciate and want to take full advantage of. 

It's like a dream come true. You never think that you'll make it, but you keep coming up through the ranks and realise that it's getting closer. I think that we footballers in general don't value what we have enough. We should probably enjoy it more than we do. 

Keeping up university studies 

I think that your studies are more important than football. Whether you make it in football is decided when you're 17 or 18 years old, but you're already at university age then. Football isn't an excuse for not studying. I had that drilled into me at home, and that's why family is so important. I think that studying should be obligatory. 

His start at Valencia CF 

I don't think that anybody would have imagined my start here. Not only for the goals, but also for the minutes that I'm having. It's always difficult to get playing time with a group of players like this. I've been surprised in this respect. I've come here by myself, to a new club, and the confidence that those goals give you is great. It has got my teammates and the fans behind me as well. People write to me and congratulate me, or stop me in the street. Being able to start like this is a help for my confidence.

His relationship with Bordalás 

I was told when I debuted that the difficult part isn't getting here, but rather staying here. I'm sure that I've done things to warrant me being here, but I think that you always need somebody to push for you. When I came up from the youth team, they were in the Tercera División, so it was a big step up. The coach took a gamble on me and told me what I needed to do to be in the first team. I don't think that I wasted the chance, and I did everything that he asked of me. I will always be grateful to him. 

Picking up points recently 

I think that these most recent points give us confidence and strength, but we can't concede so many goals. It's difficult to take points when there are three or four goals in a game -almost impossible. I think that it's fundamental to build from the back, and try to keep clean sheets. If you do that, then you will always take points. I think that we've ended up well, but there's tremendous room for improvement. In previous games we hadn't done enough to win, and we have to realise that an improvement is required after the international break. We have to improve in both defence and attack in order to win more games.