MADRID (SPAIN) (ITALPRESS) – “Winning, winning, and winning again. It’s our DNA, it’s what has filled the showcases, and it’s the values that were passed on to me as a footballer. It’s also my obsession.” Álvaro Arbeloa begins his adventure as the new Real Madrid coach, having been promoted yesterday from the Castilla team to the first-team bench after the split with Xabi Alonso. “It’s a special day for me,” the former full-back, flanked for the occasion by Emilio Butragueno, said at the press conference. “I’m 42 years old and I’ve spent 20 of them in this house, and it’s a truly special day. I’m aware of the responsibility I have and the task that awaits me, but I’m also full of enthusiasm.” For Arbeloa, everything happened very quickly, no friction with his friend Xabi Alonso (“I spoke to him, you all know how much I love him and respect him. The feeling is mutual, and will continue to be, he wished me the best and I did the same”) and he’s focused only on what’s ahead. “My contract? I’ll stay as long as Madrid wants me to. This is my home and always will be. I’m incredibly eager to get started, I have an extraordinary squad.”
“Here we have players who have won six Champions League titles, champions who seem to have been forgotten too quickly. We have great professionals, and no one wants to win more than them. I know what it means to be a Madrid player; the best time of my life was as a Real Madrid player.” Ready to exploit the products of the youth team he knows well (“I was lucky enough to work with many young players who brought me here”), with Pintus back on the staff (“it’s a privilege to have him”), the new coach of the Blancos also knows he will find himself managing a complicated locker room. “But with me, all the players start from scratch, it’s a new beginning for everyone,” retorts Arbeloa, who will make his debut tomorrow in the Copa del Rey against Albacete. “Vinicius? I’m incredibly lucky to have one of the most decisive players in the world. What I want to see is a Vinicius who has fun and dances.” The reference to the beautiful game is inevitable, but “Real Madrid has more than a hundred years of history, and it’s difficult for them to be recognized for playing well. Here, we have to win.”
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
