Parejo: At other times, Marcelino would have been sacked for Valencia's results LaLiga He's happy with the current state of the club

Dani Parejo has seen it all at Valencia and with the midfielder set to start his ninth season at Mestalla, he's taken on an increased level of responsibility and maturity in recent years.

Marcelino has been able to return Parejo to his best and the midfielder has established himself as a Spain international and played a key role in Los Che's consecutive Champions League qualifications.

Ahead of the 2019/20 campaign, Parejo sat for a conversation with MARCA.

What remains of last season, other than the great memories? The season ended in the best possible way, but football has no memory and you can only live in the present. It's a new season now and this is Valencia, a very demanding club. We have to fight for our goals again this year. Can you repeat last season? We'll try. We've achieved our goals twice and now we want to have an even better season. Your message in January was that you wouldn't give up. It worked. The coaching staff, my teammates and I all saw how we were training, our commitment; we analysed matches and it was clear that we were statistically better than our opponents but couldn't win. The key was that we never dropped our heads, we always believed. Thanks to the team, we achieved a historic year for everyone. You were one of the players who led the support of Marcelino in the worst moments. It's true that things weren't good and in bad times it's the players who have to go out, show face and fight. I lived through what the coach did at those times and I know how your family suffers, how you feel from day to day. I remember scoring in that bad run and going to hug him because I knew he needed a sign of love and support. And the coach publicly thanked you. We have to thank the club for the confidence they put in the coaching staff because at other points, Valencia would have sacked him. But thanks to their confidence and support it was possible to see that it wasn't the coach's fault. Time proved him right and they did well by keeping him in charge.