'I don't take it as a debut' - Moreno eager to start as full-time Spain boss

BetOdds EC Qualification Spain

The manager is targeting 10 wins out of 10 in qualifications for Euro 2020 and has backed Rodrigo Moreno to perform

Robert Moreno insists Spain's Euro 2020 qualifier in Romania will not carry the pressure of a debut in the dugout.

Moreno will take charge of Spain as full-time head coach for the first time in Bucharest on Thursday, having been in caretaker charge for June's victories over the Faroe Islands and Sweden.

Those triumphs mean Spain head into their first competitive game after Luis Enrique stepped down with four wins out of four in Group F â€“ a 100 per cent record Moreno is keen to continue.

"I am excited, I do not take it as a debut. I already felt like this last time, the games against Sweden and the Faroe Islands, but I want to arrive, want to do well in a very difficult game," he told a news conference.

"Any game we win will be important. Winning tomorrow we would have 15 points, but we would not be qualified. Until we are qualified there is nothing to celebrate.

"We want to be first [in the group] because it is important for the draw. Being first or second affects you later. Our goal is to make 30 points. That is the idea."Â

Rodrigo Moreno is yet to find the net for Valencia in La Liga this season, but his national team boss has been impressed with his efforts since joining the squad.

"I have seen him in perfect form," Moreno said of a player who was heavily linked with a move to Atletico Madrid late in the transfer window. "We have been training for two days and I have found him as usual.

"He is a very professional player, I think he is a good person, he has been very respectful during the whole [transfer market] process seeing him from outside.

"He will be in perfect condition with us, if we thought otherwise we would not have brought him."

Moreno also paid tribute to Blanca Fernandez Ochoa, Spain's first female Winter Olympics medallist, whose was found dead in mountains near Madrid on Wednesday after being reported missing last month.

"It is a week of too much bad news," he said, referring to the death of Luis Enrique's nine-year-old daughter Xana from bone cancer last week.

"I want to send all the love for your family, everyone knows what she meant for Spanish sport. It's a shame."

2019-09-04 23:00:03

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