In these difficult times, we’ve become familiar with words like lockdown or quarantine that, in general, aren’t normally a part of our vocabulary in everyday life.

In December, the League ended in China and, as usual, we already had the following pre-season planned with different weeks of work in various locations in both Spain and China. Unfortunately, the coronavirus disrupted all plans and we had to adapt on the fly.

In my case, the expiration of my passport and the bureaucratic difficulties of the moment, left me without VISA which would allow me to enter China. This has led to our team, Dalian Pro, spending more than two months working with the guidelines and under the direct supervision of my technical team, along with the invaluable help of the Chinese staff.

All of them, together with the Managers of the Club, the Technical Director, the Medical Department, the coordinator of base football and their coaches, the employees of the new and fantastic Sports City. Also of course, the first team players who have had and are continuing to act exceptionally well, with a high level of professionalism and with excellent control and monitoring of the planning we’ve undertaken.

My closest collaborators have been with me for many years and I already knew about their outstanding characters both in their personal lives and at work. But I would like to further emphasise how during this time when I couldn’t be with them, they have taken on the extra responsibility and greater workload, in an exemplary way. That’s why I’m writing this, to show their value and to recognise that their work in my absence only reaffirms, as I’ve seen on many other occasions, the well-deserved trust that I’ve placed in them.

THANK YOU all for your effort, dedication and professionalism.