Real Madrid will face Athletic in the twelfth round of league fixtures and the Whites will be looking for their eighth league win of the season. Aitor Karanka, who represented both teams as a player, is aware of how difficult these matches are: “When there is a Real Madrid-Athletic or Athletic-Real Madrid match it does not usually affect the league table at that time. Obviously it is always best to go into the match in as good a position as possible, but I am sure Athletic will make things hard for us. Last season they played brilliantly to reach those two finals. And this year, even though they are struggling a bit, they have some very good players who can cause you problems if you drop your guard for even a moment”, said Madrid’s deputy coach in an interview for Bwin’s web site.
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The Santiago Bernabéu will host the 82nd league match between the two teams, in a show down between two historical clubs who have played in every edition of the competition. “I think preparing for these matches as a player is easy because it has everything a player wants: a great atmosphere between two of the League’s most historical teams. As a player you look forward to these matches because they are important in the calendar”, he said.
Karanka also spoke about his development as a coach and what working with Real Madrid’s first team means to him. “Working with the world’s best in your profession is, above all, a privilege. After starting in the national youth team, working with the young players, then suddenly making the leap to work for Real Madrid with the best coach in the world is just marvellous. Apart from working with him, seeing his methods and enjoying being around him, I think the most important thing, and the one that means the most to me, is getting to know Mourinho the person. In the end it is him I work with every day, I have had some great experiences and not many people really know him”, he said.
Madrid’s deputy coach, who is in his third season with the club, spoke about the trophies they have won until now: “Winning trophies is always important in the world of sport, especially at a club like Real Madrid where I had the chance to win major trophies as a player. Now I have come from a position of not winning them and to come and win the Cup after so many years, and winning the League in the style we won it is important, especially for the people who believe in this project that we are all part of”.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a key part of the way the team plays and Karanka spoke of his importance both on and off the pitch. “Like I already said about the coach, he is someone else who people do not really know. We have the luck and the privilege of having him here. Firstly as a professional: his figures, his professionalism and his character are important. And then as a person, which at the end of the day is what matters. Cristiano shows what a professional he is every day. Every day he wants more and he wants to improve, and he also demands the same of his team-mates and so he creates a desire to win and to constantly improve in the whole changing room”.
The Madrid coach emphasised the great quality of the team’s defenders when he was asked if he would make it into this team’s starting eleven: “Things are different nowadays. Luckily now that I am one of the coaches we have central defenders like Pepe and Ramos who, in my opinion, are the best in the world; Varane who has a great future; Raúl Albiol, who is an international and a World Cup winner; and Ricardo Carvalho, whose form maybe is not at his absolute best at the moment, but who has been a top central defender for a long time”, he concluded.
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