The first part of the statement can be found in this article.
– How important is my son Davide in the coaching staff? Yes, he suggested putting Joselu in for the return match with Bayern. The experience of working with my son is fantastic, but he also has a lot of responsibility. He had it from the beginning, because everyone could think that he was with us because he was my son. He had pressure and responsibility, but I added him to the coaching staff because he was studying, he was close to me and he had a fantastic coach in Paul Clement. When Paul left for Swansea, Davide became an assistant. But first he was in charge of academics and then he worked with Paul and me for 4-5 years. I think that helped him gain the knowledge needed for this job. I hire him as an assistant because I know he has the knowledge. I wouldn’t want to put my son in a position with responsibility if I knew he didn’t have the knowledge. I could tell him: there are many more positions you can do. But I know he has the knowledge to be a good assistant.
– In general, I want a team that is confident. My son is confident and can tell me things that not everyone can tell me. Some people might not have the courage to tell me something. I want people who challenge me. I don’t want people who always agree with me. I want a challenge and we have that challenge. Our team discusses a lot and gives me a lot of information. One of the pieces of information was the introduction of Joselu in the match against Bayern.
“I’m less involved in training now. At Chelsea I supervised every drill. Here I’m always involved in tactical matters, but there are a lot of drills where I can pass on responsibility to the coaching staff. But I still enjoy being on the pitch and talking to the players. I don’t always have the same enthusiasm as I used to, to keep pushing them and shouting at them, and the young ones have that.”
– Florentino Pérez even asked me what I thought about the Mbappé transfer? [śmiech] I said: nooooooooo [łapie się za głowę]. We talk to the club every day. They call when they need something and of course I advise them. As I say, the last 5-6 years have been fantastic signings from them.
– I think Real Madrid is different from other clubs I have worked at. Here they want to keep their history alive. They want to remember the players who made their history, like Di Stéfano, Gento, Puskás, Butragueño… They are remembered here every day. You come here and you see pictures of Di Stéfano, Gento, Puskás and now Cristiano, Ramos, Marcelo. I think it is very important to keep the history of the club alive by taking care of the legends.
– At the centre, everyone showed you a lot of respect, especially the players? One of the basics here is that our working environment here has to be clean. No problems, no discussions… Respect is the most important thing here. I want to be respected, of course, but first you have to show respect. Our goal is to maintain a clean working environment. We don’t want any arguments between players or coaches, I’m very careful about that. I don’t want any negative attitude or distraction from such topics. The most important aspect of my job is not tactics, but relationships.
– Am I the best at managing people? I’m also a good tactician, don’t forget that! [śmiech] Thank you for the praise, but I’m also a good tactician [śmiech]. A footballer has to have a professional relationship with me. He is forced to do that, but he is not forced to have a personal relationship. For me, personal relationships are more important. A professional relationship is forced. I can say to myself that tomorrow we are training at 5 in the morning, because I have the power. I can do that and that is a professional relationship. A personal relationship is different. In a personal relationship you are talking to a person, not a footballer. That is a big difference. For me, you are not a journalist. You are a person doing a journalistic job. I do that with everyone who works here. It is difficult to say that I know everyone, because at my age I start to forget names. [śmiech]. It’s hard for me to remember the names of all the physiotherapists because we have so many of them [śmiech].
– Is this my last job? I think it will be my last club. I can say that. If the opportunity with the national team comes up, I don’t know. I’m not that excited about coaching the national team because I’m missing out on what I like the most, which is everyday life: being here, preparing training, talking to the players, preparing the match. One of my coaches, when I was a player, told me: the job of a coach is best when there are no matches. [śmiech].
– How good was Toni Kroos at Real Madrid? Toni… had a lot of responsibility in those 10 years, in which Real Madrid won 6 Champions Leagues. They won 6 European Cups with Kroos, Modrić and Casemiro. They were the backbone of that team with Ronaldo, Benzema, now also the younger generation with Vinícius. But that previous generation was the key to Real Madrid’s success. Kroos was part of that with quality, professionalism and low ego. Kroos, Modrić, Carvajal, Nacho, Lucas really have low egos. For them, it was all about teamwork and those young players growing up like Vinícius, Rodrygo and Valverde saw that every day. With them, they understood how to become top players.
Statements about the Ballon d’Or.
– This season will be my 6th Champions League? We will try [śmiech]. As always we will try, but I repeat that I have 5 European Cups, but imagine how many I have lost during these 29 seasons of work [śmiech].
– We have a terrible squad, but it would be good to change the rules and be able to field more than 11 players [śmiech]. Before the season I tell the veterans to take into account that they may have less minutes because the young ones are great. They understand that. And I tell the young ones that they have to be patient and not ask for too many minutes because the veterans are still great. So far they understood that. So far, we’ll see this season [śmiech]. Honestly, last season I didn’t have a problem with anyone. Really, no one complained, everyone helped the team.
– Do I regret that Hazard didn’t work out at Real Madrid? Eden is a fantastic guy. He was really accepted here, he had a good relationship with everyone. I think the problem was of course the injuries, but also the fact that he had difficulty competing. He never liked training, but also when you play every three days, you can’t train at high intensity. You have to train intensely when you’re not playing. The fact is that at Lille he played all the games and then he was fantastic at Chelsea, but here he got injured. And when you get injured at Real, you have to come back and be competitive with others. Because when you don’t play, someone else can play. I think he had a problem competing and fighting for games.
– Bale has gone down at the end of his career? I think that’s a different case. He’s lost a bit of the motivation to play at a high level, but Gareth is considered a legend here because Gareth scored in the final in 2014 and he scored twice in the final against Liverpool. He’s scored a lot of goals here in finals and he’s considered a legend by us. I had some fantastic moments with him. He was one of the best players I’ve managed. His ability to combine physicality with talent was wow.
– How was it to manage Cristiano? Really easy [śmiech]. When you have a player scoring in every game, it’s not hard [śmiech]. He is also really professional and serious. Top professional. Another legend. What he has achieved and continues to achieve in his career, because he is constantly fighting, has been fantastic. It is all because of his talent, hard work, professionalism, focus, concentration. He was unbelievable every day, there was not a single day for him to let up.
– Who haven’t I guided but would like to? [Obi Mikel rzuca nazwisko Messiego] He’s one of the few, because I was lucky enough to coach the best. An incredible list. And I remember everyone, all the teams, all the lineups, our time together. It was a great time.
– We didn’t go into too much detail in this conversation. The new generations try to complicate things a bit, and football is not that complicated. You have a goal and you have to score a goal, and the second goal you have to save. I try to keep it simple in what I love the most. Football is still a strong passion for me. I don’t think I’m doing a job. I’m doing my passion.
