"The derby showed that we can compete but, honestly, we are not at the same level of Liverpool," he said.
"In my opinion, Liverpool are one of the best teams in Europe, for sure, no doubt about this. I don't know how far we are, really, but we are not at the same level, we have to work on this.
"Experience, knowledge, all these kind of things, we have to improve the quality of the squad year by year and be a little patient. Of course we cannot reach top results immediately, we need time and step by step I think we can reach a very good level in England.
"We are surprised to be at the top, honestly, but we accept this! We want to stay there as long as possible. It will be difficult, we know, every game is more and more difficult, but we have to try."
"I love football, I love what I'm doing and I'm able to keep that same passion I had as a kid when I played in the streets," he said.
"The best part of my job is the training sessions. I like to be on the pitch, to stay with my players and work with them and to try and build something together.
"The most difficult part of our job is the team selection. Sometimes it gives you a little bit of sadness because you have to tell some players to stay out and sometimes they deserve to play, but the line-up is chosen for very little details.
"Time flies, but I'm really, really happy to be here. I love the atmosphere here. The club is like a family so I feel really comfortable."