I like Sergio Ramos, who plays Real Madrid.
I had a wonderful time in Spain. I had the pleasure of being a league champion twice in a row and playing for a big club like Real Madrid, which gave me a higher profile.
When I first got to Madrid, Cannavaro helped me loosen up a lot. The rule was that I could attack as long as I sprinted back. But if I was late? Man, then it got real. The man could yell.
For a kid that just played for Oviedo, to then going to play for a team like Real Madrid, it felt fantastic. But being taken out of my family home and moving away alone, into the residence Madrid have for young players, it was a bit difficult. But as time passed, I got used to it.
Real Madrid are the most successful club in the world, and from the start, you know you have to be prepared and to give everything for the shirt.
The city of Madrid is a beautiful city, and my family loved living there.
The idea of developing football and winning trophies at Real Madrid does not fall in line with how I see football.
Of course many children are dreaming to play for Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Manchester United. I always just wanted to wear the jersey of Partizan, Newcastle, and Serbia.
Madrid is a club that gives big players what they need.
I always work hard to play well for Madrid and help the team.
Never been crazy enough about soccer to say, ‘I’m a Madrid fan until death.’
At Real Madrid, I learned a will to win.
Real Madrid are an interesting club for any manager.
Real Madrid is my home and if I have the opportunity to go back and do something important, or something that really appeals to me, I’ll do it.
I am a Madrid fan.
Real Madrid has a lot of high expectations, not only in terms of results but also with nice football and a lot of goals.
Show me a team of the stature of Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid, or Barcelona who is not obsessed with winning the Champions League. If they are not, I’d be surprised why they play in it.
I started at Benfica: not as big but one of the biggest clubs in Portugal. I’ve played for Real Madrid. Then I moved to Manchester United, from a giant to another giant.
Since I joined Real Madrid I was taught to fight for the team.
I’m very happy in Madrid and I’ll defend my coach, the players, the president – everyone.
Only the change on the international scene, the crisis in the gulf, and the strong, firm position of the United States against aggression between two Arab countries created realities that led to the Madrid Peace Conference.
I am with Madrid until death.
It’d be best if Cristiano Ronaldo retired at Real Madrid and then worked at the club.
When I arrived, Madrid taught me to fight until the end. You win the finals. I’ve learned a lot with Real Madrid about this.
At Madrid we are like one big family. We’re all united because we know we have to be, otherwise we’re going nowhere.
Real Madrid’s Bernabeu was an amazing stadium to play in. It was just on top of you, and such a big stadium.
People might talk more about Real Madrid and Barcelona than about Atletico, but what matters to me is what happens on the pitch. We compete with them year after year. I am not interested about the club’s reputation.
Madrid always opens its doors to great players.
Real Madrid is like Manchester United or Liverpool or Bayern Munich. There is so much history, and you need to play and win against that history. It’s difficult to play against them because you fight against everything – the history, the players – but because of that, the motivation is always so high.
I would like Ajax to be people’s favourite second team. Like in Spain, if you are a Real Madrid fan, then you can’t be a Barcelona supporter. It’s the same in Italy. But you can be an Ajax fan.
I wake up every day with a smile, and in that sense, I feel the same as I did when I arrived at Real Madrid in 2005.
If I would have had the absolute will, I would have been a starting XI player at Barcelona or would have played 10 years for Real Madrid or Manchester United.
Whoever says Real Madrid are dead is always proved wrong in the long term.
Ancelotti has managed a lot of big clubs, and I think he would do well at Madrid because Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, and Paris Saint-Germain are big clubs.
I will always be grateful to Madrid. I never said a bad word about anybody there. Everyone there, even the president, treated me really well always.
The Italian Fabio Cannavaro, who was with Real Madrid when I played against him several times, was the best player in the world in 2006. He wasn’t tall, but very quick and strong. He always knew his opponents well, as if he’d researched them.
England is the biggest league in the world. Of course, you have Barcelona and Real Madrid but, as a league, England is in my opinion the best in the world.
Messi is unbelievable, but Ronaldo does it on his own. In Madrid, he has to score the goals and create them.
When we played Real Madrid and won 5-3 it was soaking wet and the ball ended up weighing a kilo. It didn’t have a brand. Consider the boots; there was no personalised footwear. Back then we made money, but we played for the love, it was all heart.
My childhood dream? To play at Real Madrid. In 2014, before he died, I promised my grandfather who was from Avila, 110 kilometers from Madrid, that I would play there. It will be complicated, but it sits in a corner of my head.
When I arrived in Madrid I felt that it was a dream that I didn’t want to escape from.
What the not-so-good moments gave me at Real Madrid, I think they helped me grow.
I would love to retire at Real Madrid, but I will not make problems if a coach does not have me.
At Real Madrid, there will always be people who score goals. They are a team and not a single player, no matter how much one appears more than another.
At Real Madrid you have to fight until the end.
I am absolutely happy to train Real Madrid. I have a wonderful challenge.
When I got here with Real Madrid, the truth is they responded very well. I know that the people like me, they love me, they have a lot of warmth for me. I’m enchanted for that warmth and love they’ve shown.
The haunting of history is ever present in Barcelona. I see cities as organisms, as living creatures. To me, Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman. And it’s a woman who’s extremely vain.
I’ve played for Real Madrid and Inter, clubs at the highest level, but Corinthians is a well-organised club and a reference for our country.
La Mancha is a very macho, chauvinistic society. I saw very clearly that my life had to be in Madrid, and I liberated myself from my mum and dad after high school.
If you go to Real Madrid or Barcelona, the fans, the media and the decision-makers don’t give you the time to grow into that.
Casillas has an impressive track record at Real Madrid.
I feel at home in Madrid. I have always felt important, wanted, and trusted by everyone here.
My idea was to stay in Madrid. Then, when I heard of Munich’s interest, I said, ‘Xabi, think what you want and where you will be happy.’
I demand Casemiro play the same role he plays at his club, Real Madrid.
Nobody can ever truly replace Cristiano Ronaldo, because he was unique, a one-off, who created an unbelievably legacy of success at the club. But what I see in Vinicius is special too, I believe he is the best candidate in football to replace Cristiano and to conquer the world with Madrid.
I’m happy in Madrid.
I am not saying that I am at the same level as Messi or Ronaldo. They are the best two players in the world, but I am very proud that I managed to finish above them in the goalscoring charts, especially as I was playing for Atletico Madrid, not Barcelona or Real Madrid.
I saw James Rodriguez play for the Colombian national team. I saw him play for Real Madrid and for Bayern, too. For me he’s a fantastic player, a sensational player, intelligent, a player, who, if you let him play the way he likes, for sure, he’ll do a lot for the Premier League.
As a Barcelona man, I always want Real Madrid to lose.
When I was younger, I had some close friends who always loved European football, and Real Madrid at that time were the dominant force. I remember family holidays when we used to go to Spain, and we’d bring back replica shirts of Real Madrid and pretend to be the players when we played in the park.
It was complicated at Madrid. I was suspicious. The lack of recognition for Makelele over there scared me. I was scared it would happen to me. But I should have gone there. Today, I don’t regret the career that I have had, but if I could have changed one thing, it would be that: to go to Madrid.
My first option is always to triumph at Real Madrid. After that, you never know what can happen.
Bayern is a big club and a big brand, but on a daily basis, it’s a family club. You get to know the physios, the kit man, the chefs. It’s also a club that’s very close to the supporters. That proximity to the fans makes it special. That was surprising. In Liverpool and Madrid, there’s more distance.
When I moved from Independiente to Atletico Madrid, I was only 18, and I found it hard to adapt. But what surprised me most about moving to England was how fast the game was. I like it, but it is so quick.
My dream has always been to play for Real Madrid.
