Real Madrid

Kaka denied all rumors that he is still suffering from a sports hernia and insisted he is returning to his true form during Monday’s press conference.

“I feel good. The sports hernia does not bother me any more. It has disappeared, but I still need to do specific recovery work like any injured player does. Last week it was rumored that it is a chronic problem which isn’t true.”

“What I was a little bothered by is that I wasn’t improving physically which prevented me from doing things I like doing on the pitch. The doctors told me to be patient, so I was and now I am improving day by day.”

“It isn’t just in Spain where there has been talk about me not being able to return to my old form. It also happened in Brazil and Italy, but it simply isn’t true.”

“Scoring on Saturday was very special, but what matters most is playing a good game. I was able to play a lot looser and with much more freedom, which is how I like to play. Before then I wasn’t fit enough, which made it much harder.”

“We are playing well, creating a lot of scoring chances and suffering very little on defense. We now have an identity which we need to keep intact with all the players we have. That identity continues to evolve. Real Madrid’s chances of playing a very good game are now very high.”

“We have improved tactically and technically. What we work on throughout the week is showing in matches.”

“Benzema is very talented. He is scoring important goals and helping and improving a lot. It isn’t easy to move from one country to another and to change from one style of football to another, but he is adapting well and improving.”

“Regarding referees, I don’t think intends to damage or hurt a player or team. It is very hard to judge them”

“Barcelona are five points ahead of us because they have played better. I hope we do better in the second half and that we finish ahead of them. That is our goal.”

“We need to beat Xerez and then see what Barcelona and Atletico do. It would be nice if Atleti could lend us a helping hand.”

“The Champions League is a unique competition. This team really wants to win it. We all have our reasons, but all that counts is beating our next opponent, Olympique Lyonnais.”