Marcelino: "Winning the Copa is what ended up causing me to be sacked"

Marcelino García Toral, who was surprisingly sacked by Valencia on Wednesday, claims not putting the Copa del Rey to one side - despite winning the competition - is what caused his relationship with Peter Lim to break down.

"I'm absolutely sure, I don't have any doubts, that the cause of this situation was the Copa. During the season we received messages, direct and indirect, telling us to ignore the competition," confessed Marcelino in a press conference.

"The supporters wanted to fight for it, as did the footballers, and they went on to do that. The coaching staff wanted to fight and win the Copa. Winning the trophy was the cause of this entire situation, who would imagine that?"

His previous conversations with Peter Lim

Marcelino revealed that when the club's owner, Peter Lim, didn't send them a congratulations message after winning the Copa final. "On the 19th July I went to Singapore and he congratulated me on qualifying for the Champions League but not winning the cup. You can imagine my surprise. It's obvious that results aren't the reason I was sacked." 

When quizzed on why Lim didn't want to win the Copa, Marcelino said: "It was a minor competition which could impact our chances of qualifying for the Champions League. But we believed that the sensation following the victory over Getafe in the quarter-finals was key in us qualifying for the Champions League." 

Marcelino also revealed that he felt the same in the 2017/18 season too. "I consider myself a winning coach and because of that, I want players who are winners also. Do you think Valencia could go out and simply not try in a competition? Would I be a good professional if that happened? How would my players accept me telling them: 'we don't want to win this'?" 

"I didn't give the reports any credit, I couldn't believe it," added Marcelino of finding out his time at Valencia was over. "After what we achieved it didn't enter into our thoughts that this coaching team, who had always respected the agreements made in May 2017, would suddenly be out of work."

Marcelino said the main feeling was that of "disbelief" which is no doubt shared amongst the majority of Valencia supporters.