Luciano Valente gets his own back: 'People think it's strange that I say this, but...'

Luciano Valente has hit back at the criticism he received last week after Feyenoord's resounding 7-0 win over PEC Zwolle. The Rotterdam side's captain watched his team dominate on Sunday and believes the match in Zwolle showed why he stayed positive after the 5-1 defeat to FC Barcelona.

"I think this is the first time I've won by such a big margin," Valente told ESPN after the match. "We started very well today and could already have been 6-0 up at half-time. The play was good, dominant and there was a lot of movement."

Feyenoord bounced back in emphatic fashion from the heavy defeat at Camp Nou. Valente believes that match, despite the painful scoreline, sparked something in the team. "The match in Barcelona gave us good energy, despite the result."

He had already said that straight after the meeting with Barcelona, but the comment drew plenty of criticism. "I mentioned that at the time as well and some people found it very strange, but today was a good example of why that is true."

Nacho Ferri was one of the standout performers against PEC, scoring three times. One of his goals was initially recorded as a Simon Graves own goal, but referee Alex Bos later overturned that decision.

For Valente, the striker has developed excellently since the departure of Ayase Ueda. "Since Ayase left, Ferri has filled the role excellently. You can see that he is getting better by the day, including in training. Now he is rewarding himself with goals and I am proud of him."

Givairo Read also earned praise from his captain after providing three assists. "From the first day after he did not go to AS Roma, he has been excellent for Feyenoord."