Valencia coach Nuno Espirito Santo believes the Group H Champions League pairings will work in favour of the Spanish club as they host Zenit St Petersburg in their first group-stage match on Wednesday.
"Nobody can take away our ambition and desire to win," said the Portuguese manager. "We are optimistic that we can get as far as possible in this competition. It is an evenly matched group with four teams that can all fight for the top two positions. We are aware of the challenges because there is no easy opponent."
Espirito Santo, who was a reserve goalkeeper for FC Porto in 2004 when the club won the Champions League, will be making his Champions League debut as coach against fellow Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas, who was an assistant to Jose Mourinho on that Porto team.
Espirito Santo, who managed Valencia to a fourth-place La Liga finish last season and a tough playoff win over Monaco to reach the group phase, said last year's friendly against Zenit was taken into account in preparation for this match.
"Zenit was facing a tough moment in its process [last year]. They were starting," he said. "Of course it served as a reference, but it also does for them as well. It is important, but even more important have been the past few games in the Russian league."
And after two years of failing to reach the Champions League, Singapore tycoon Peter Lim bought the club and charged Espirito Santo with the task of taking Valencia back to Europe's biggest stage.
"Fear does not exist and it must be transformed into a challenge," Espirito Santo said. "We face it match by match with obsession of wanting to win."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.