Article
22 June 2009
Realmadrid.com / Translation by Michael J. O'Donnell
Iker Casiillas is playing in the Confederations Cup with Spain, but the keeper found some time for an intervview in which he praises the Club's new signings and talks about winning the Euro 2008 with Spain.
"I think it's fantastic to sign great players because the best should play for Real Madrid. Such an amount of money was paid in the past for men like Zidane, who was an amazing player and a great person. The same goes for Beckham. I don't know Kaka, but I'm told he is a great guy and that's important."
"We must endure as we've always done, which is by winning through hard work. The crowd at the Bernabeu wants players that run back and forth all the time, like Camacho, Raul... They like us to play well, but they feel it is more important to fight for a ball that might leave the sidelines than to pull off a nutmeg."
"I will always have the chance to win something every year with Real Madrid, but a Euro only comes every four years. Winning in Vienna was a childhood dream come true. I didn't want to retire without winning a title with the national team. Great players like Zubizarreta, Butragueño, Camacho and Guardiola played for Spain in the past, but they had only won a silver medal in the Euro and an Olympic Gold Medal. The problem is we now want more. We are playing to win the Confederations Cup and the World Cup is around the corner... We are hungry for titles."
"The great atmosphere on the team came from looking at the basketball team, which had great vibes around it. They set the example to follow. It is harder to achieve that in football because people can go from loving you to hating you in no time."
"Football is something everyone observes. That's why our triumph was important. We managed to make people wear their Spanish shirts and flags with pride on the streets. They even hang them from their windows and balconies."
"You are alone in the goal. Being a goalkeeper is a constant challenge that can make you both a hero and a villain. That's enhanced at Real Madrid or Barcelona because the defence is farther from the goal and opponents shoot less on target, but you can't afford to make a mistake."
"It is always hard to defeat a player in a one-on-one. A thousand things go through your head and you react by instinct."
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