Florenzi no stranger to derby rivalries

The derby against Levante UD this week will be Alessandro Florenzi's first, but the Italian knows all about competitiveness with a cross-town rival. In his homeland he experienced the Rome derby, playing for boyhood club AS Roma and even wearing the captain's armband in a contest against SS Lazio.

Despite the efforts of one of his friends to make him a Lazio fan, Florenzi's ties to Roma were strong. So much so, that when the then-AS Lodigiani player received offers from both clubs in the city to sign him at the age of 9, he did not hesitate to join the 'Giallorossi.'

Looking back, the Valencia CF man remembers two derbies as some of his best moments for AS Roma.

"There was one time in which AS Roma won 4-1 and I scored. And another where we had Champions League qualification on the line, and we won… Those were two great moments of joy,” he recalled to VCF Media.

"From the beginning of August, when the calendar for the season comes out, you are looking for the date of that match," he emphasised.

Valencia CF vs. Levante UD on Friday has been looked forward to for more reasons than normal, as the first game back for the club following the enforced postponement of the final 11 games of the season.