Bienvenido Marañon, striker Filipino-Spanish of Johor Daru’ Ta’Zim revealed with The-AFC.com, that this club have an equivalent standard And better than the clubs in La Liga.
Marañon, move to play with JDT in season 2022, after leave from United City in Philippines Football League in last season.
“First of all, I’d like to express my appreciation to everybody who helped me to join the club, especially the boss who decided to bring me here to Johor. I’m very excited about this experience.” Marañon said with AFC.
“There’s not too much to add about JDT that people don’t know already. For me, JDT is the best club in Southeast Asia, practically in all of Asia.”
“The facilities that we had in the Philippines and the stadium that we had there is nothing compared to here at JDT. You cannot compare JDT with another place in Southeast Asia.”
“I think JDT have the same standard of facilities, even better than most of the teams in La Liga in Spain. When you have to compare Johor, you have to compare with Real Madrid, Barcelona and teams like this.”
In addition, Marañon said about himself at time play with Ceres-Negros(United City in currently) and meet with JDT in AFC Cup 2017. Which in that time him make 1 goal scored againist. before win and pass to Inter-zone semi-final in that season.
“I played against JDT for Ceres Negros back in the 2017 AFC Cup and was soon after approached about the possibility of joining the club. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right as I already had a contract with Ceres. We had another conversation in 2020 but it was a similar issue until finally – following the AFF Suzuki Cup where I played well and scored goals – they reached out again and we were able to come to an agreement between the clubs. I’m just delighted I was finally able to make the move here.”
“During the AFC Cup in that period, JDT was, for me, the team to beat. Everybody wanted to play against JDT and play well because it’s like the game of the year.”
“I remember at the time, we lost at their ground, Larkin Stadium, and we won the return meeting in our stadium in Bacolod. They were very good games, regardless of the result. What I remember is two very good teams playing against each other in the AFC Cup. I think at that moment, it was a good place for both teams and we played some beautiful football.”
“In recent times, JDT has moved up to the AFC Champions League and we can see that this is the stage they belong to now. It is where they have to be, where we have to be because the team has all the qualities needed to be there.”
“Now we are showing everybody that JDT is not in the AFC Champions League just to make up the numbers, but also to be competitive and impress everyone with our football.”
Credit Photo : JOHOR Southern Tigers
