Bruno still remembers the culture shock of his first clash with Stoke.

It was four months before he moved his family to England.

But the experience of 1-0 wins home and away for Valencia in the Europa League helped prove he could cope with the physical demands of the English game.

Five-and-a-half years later, he walks out for competitive game No.202 in this country feeling pretty battle-hardened.

He also hopes to help Albion return to winning ways at home after a pair of draws to complement their two recent away wins.

Bruno was in and out of the Valencia side in 2011-12, his third and final season at the club.

But boss Unai Emery felt his physical qualities would be handy at the Britannia Stadium when the Spanish side visited in the last 32.

The Argus:

Bruno lines up with Valencia for the first leg at Stoke

Mehmet Topal’s thunderous first-half strike divided the teams in the first leg and Valencia came through their physical test well against Tony Pulis’s men.

Bruno said: “I still remember standing there in the tunnel waiting to go out for kick-off.

“I looked to my side and saw how tall a lot of the Stoke players were.

“I thought ‘We don’t play against many teams like that in Spain’.

“At the time Tony Pulis had the pitch at Stoke as narrow as he was allowed in the Premier League because it suited their style of play.

“UEFA told them it was too narrow for the Europa League so they had to widen it for the game.

“Playing out at full-back you could see two touchlines.”

Bruno was thought of essentially an uncompromising, physical defender at Valencia.

Pascual Calabuig, Valencia reporter at the city’s sports daily newspaper Super, told The Argus that Albion were getting “a rigorous defender without any fancy stuff” on the day his signing was announced.

The Argus:

Bruno in action in the second leg

Bruno agreed at the time when asked about that description.

But that has probably not been how Albion fans have viewed the current skipper.

His touch and tricks on the ball have stood out from the crowd more in this country, especially in the Championship.

So much so that the defensive discipline was sometimes overlooked – but not this season.

Back in 2012, Bruno had not played a first team game for three weeks when he arrived in the Potteries.

And even that was a Spanish Cup tie against Levante.

He played until the 81st minute on a chilly Thursday night at the Britannia before making way for Portuguese international Miguel.

John Walters and Peter Crouch led the Stoke attack with Jermaine Pennant operating down the wing.

Cameron Jerome was sent on the last 20 minutes.

Stoke made squad rotations at Mestalla and again lost 1-0.

The report in Spanish sports newspaper Marca at the time described “a Stoke team with lots of spirit but little football.”

This time striker Jonas, now of Benfica, scored the only goal and Bruno played the full game. Bruno also played in the following round against a PSV side which included current Stoke defender Erik Pieters as well as Napoli star Dries Mertens.

But he missed out in the quarters, against AZ Alkmaar, and was on the bench in the semis, when Valencia lost to Atletico Madrid.

He said: “Stoke was my welcome to English football “It was a really tough game against a good side, quite a direct side with a lot of long balls.

“We weren’t used to it but we got a good result in both legs.

“This is going to be a special game for us because I think at home we need to be really strong.”

Albion fans would love their side to get stuck into Stoke from the start but will recognise what is going on if that does not happen.

Their side is still built on two banks of four and will not be afraid to let their visitors have the ball. Albion have not scored in the first 40 minutes of a home game but know how to bide their time and play their way into a game.

The common wisdom is that home points will decide their fate.

They have flipped that on its head in the last four games with wins at West Ham and Swansea alongside draws at home to Everton and Southampton.

But it is fair to suggest the quality of the opposition in those games might have had something to do with that.

It was put to Bruno by The Argus after the Swansea game that Albion might actually be better set up to play away than at home, with their solid base and their pace on the counter.

The skipper replied: “Maybe – but we try to play the same way at home as away. That is our football but sometimes we have a tough opponent in front of us.”