Rioja: "We needed this victory"

Luis Rioja's goal helped Valencia CF to beat Girona FC 2-0, and he gave his thoughtsafter the contest.

The victory

We needed it. My teammates and the club deserved it. We did very good things against Villarreal at home, we didn't get the same feeling against Atletico Madrid. Today -after a first half in which we struggled to get into the game, in which they monopolised the ball- we knew we were going to have our moments.We managed to open the scoring and take the three points.

The effort

I think we knew, above all, how to position ourselves with what the game required. We are a team that have to have many things in place to win points and always be at 100%. In LaLiga, you can't be at 90%. We did what the game required at every moment.

 It went well for us and when we had the ball we were judicious in doing damage on transitions. We did what we needed and deserved to win the game. The team and the fans deserved it.

Mestalla

In the time I've been here, it's clear that there's something special at Mestalla. These are great fans, they support the team, they are pushing us on a lot and in the two games I have played here we have got 4 points.

Hopefully by Tuesday we will have recovered well and we can give the energy that they transmit to us and score another three points, gain confidence and stand up to the challenge away from Mestalla -and be as similar as possible to when we play at Mestalla.

His first goal and the dedication

It was not the prettiest goal, but it doesn't matter. What I want is to be happy on a day-to-day basis and that comes from winning, seeing my teammates smile, seeing the fans happy. What makes me enjoy this is seeing my family, my team and the fans happy.

The dedication was for my baby who is 4 months old and I still haven't been able to dedicate a goal to them. I hope that the second one I score and can dedicate is more beautiful.