Brentford go in to the final nine games of the Sky Bet Championship season fourth in the table. After two weeks without a match due to international fixtures, The Bees resume their campaign with a trip to Huddersfield Town. The game will kick-off at 12.30pm tomorrow, Saturday 3 April, and will be live on Sky Sports.

The Bees start the final five weeks of the campaign with eight points more than they did after 37 games last season. Brentford finished third and reached the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final in the unusual 2019/20 campaign, their best season for more than 70 years. And those topics were on the agenda when David Raya spoke to The Independent newspaper during the international break.

David reflected on the Play-Off Final loss to Fulham and the "cruel" nature of that extra-time defeat. David was beaten from long range in that game and spoke honestly about what happened. He also reflected on the way everyone at the Club reacted to it and planned for the new season.

“It was a tough time but everybody learnt from it and matured from it, and would do some things differently,” David said in the interview. “I felt bad in the way we conceded the goal but football is sometimes like that. I don’t think that was a mistake. That was my position I was in all season. If it wasn’t going to be that day, it’d be another. Even the gaffer, afterwards, said to me ‘next season I want you even higher’. That’s the assurance I needed at the time. You have to move on. If you think about it, you’ll just be more paranoid.

"We lost important players like Ollie [Watkins], Saïd [Benrahma], but the Club did brilliantly to replace them. This season, we’ve shown it again. There are nine games to go. It’s the same procedure. That’s the motto we have."

The interview also touches on David's arrival in Engliah football, moving from Spain to Blackburn Rovers. He also reflects on a loan spell at Southport and the realities of non-league football. See the interview here.