Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi admits he feared he wouldn't make it in the game while with Everton.

The Germany defender was a youth teamer with Everton before leaving for the continent.

"When I first arrived in England, I spent three years without a game with the first team – just one game in the Europa League. I didn't want to be there just to earn money and not play. You sign a three or four-year contract but if you are not playing, what happens after that? That was a tough time for me.

"In England, the game is more physical, in Italia it's not as quick but it is very intelligent and tactical and in Spain, it's a bit of everything – tactical and quick, but not as tactical as Italy. That's why it's great to play the Champions League because you can see that it's just 11 against 11 with a ball."