Soler reaches 100th game with 'bittersweet' result

The 2-1 victory at Mestalla against FC Krasnodar marked a milestone for Carlos Soler, who played his 100th game for Valencia CF. At 22 years old he has one of the youngest players to reach a century of official appearances for the club, and he has become one of the cornerstones of Marcelino's side.

The academy product has featured for just one full season, but has played 78 LaLiga games, 13 in the Copa del Rey, 6 in the Champions League and 3 in the Europa League. This year he has been used in 37 games, including scoring two goals (both in the Champions League).

Talking after the game, the VCF Academy product said that the 2-1 result was "A little bittersweet. After the second goal we defended a little further back. We spoke at halftime about that being something that we needed to change, but we began the second half as we had ended the first."

"We conceded, which is always disappointing, especially with the good defensive run we've been on. Krasnodar had some clear chances, but we will try to improve on this for Sunday's game against Girona," he added, before denying that there was overconfidence after his team had taken the lead.

"I don't think it was excess confidence. The opposition are also in the game, they have good players and they had a good group stage. It's a shame that we conceded, and we'd like the advantage to be more, but it's a win."