Rubén Baraja: “My personal challenge is to make Valencia CF grow”

Rubén Baraja has renewed his contract with Valencia CF until 2025. The coach, who took the reins of the team in February 2023, managed to change the dynamic to achieve the objective. Now, he will try to continue to grow as a professional coach with the Club where he spent the best years of his playing career.

Happy and excited

I'm happy and excited about the opportunity to continue at Valencia CF. It was something that I was very excited about, having a chance to start a season from scratch, and I'm full of joy and optimism. Above all, I'm excited about the future.

Looking forward to the start of the season

Although the season has been very demanding, it's important for me to feel the desire to get back to work and start over. I want to achieve something big for Valencia CF. That's my ambition and my objective, and what led to my decision to stay at the club.

Growing

With the knowledge from last season of the things that we can improve, it's fundamental that we put together a competitive team with the types of players that the club need to grow. I set out the objectives based on our reality, which we have to accept, but with the ambition and desire to build a good team through hard work and grow from there.

Utmost ambition

Historically, Valencia CF have been a good team when we've been united and had competitive squads -in which everybody knows their role. Any player who comes in has to be aware of what playing for Valencia CF means, and the demands that come with it.

From there, they have to work hard. We have to get things right when strengthening the team because that's something that we will have to do, and we need to have the utmost ambition. This club demands that you are ambitious and want the team to grow.

Roadmap

There are a series of things that a club need to be clear about. Mainly, the goal that we are going for this season. It's very important to be aware of the situation and your starting point, as well as your destination.

You need obtainable goals, and to grow, work hard and get things right when putting together the squad in preseason. When the season starts, you want to have the best team possible.

We all have to make an effort to understand the situation the club are in right now. The fans have shown that they are fundamental for us, and that they are our best asset. We need to repay them for their support by working hard and having an identity, being competitive in every game.

Hunger, ambition, energy

It's important for me that players who form part of Valencia CF know what I think about football. I want players who are hungry, who are ambitious and who have energy. Above all, I want them to perform to make us have a competitive team. That's my objective.

Learning curve

When I arrived, one of the important things was having the confidence to salvage the situation the club were in. That's in the past now, and it's helped me to get to know the club and how things work. Now I have to impose what we all identify with Valencia CF: Hard work, a good squad and the ambition to improve. The club also have this idea.

New challenge

My personal challenge is to make Valencia CF grow after last season. Above all, I want us to have an ambitious objective that at the same time is realistic. Ambition always has to be based on the possibilities you have.

We need to know our starting point and our target. We don't know what it is now, but we need to be ambitious to make the team grow and improve on last year.

We all play

The situation was tough and Mestalla responded, as always. It's been shown that we have a great fanbase, supporting the team at Mestalla and away from home. They've been fundamental in us getting points to stay in LaLiga.

Many fans made huge efforts to go to away games and support us. That means a lot.

We need to look after our fans because they support us and spur us on. They give us a boost, and we need to show them what Valencia CF mean on the pitch. My idea is to compete well in every game and make the fans proud of our effort.

Grateful for the fanbase

The first thing that people say to me when I see them on the street is "thank you." Their affection, support and trust that things can change have been great. We managed it, and now they thank us for that, but that's in the past now. Now we have to look to the future and improve things, with optimism and being realistic.

Greetings to the fanbase

Thank you to everybody. All the best to the Valencia CF fans. I, and everybody who works at the club, are going to offer all of our enthusiasm and excitement to have a good season.