NEWS | 30/03/2017
The Whites' center was the second star to appear on the 'Campo de Estrellas' program for Realmadrid TV.Special titles
“The Euro League in 2015, the league in 2004 because it was the first, the 2007 league title because I was named MVP and we won it in Barcelona and the league in 2013, which we won in Madrid and I was also MVP”.
The Novena
“To win a Euro League, you have to have lost others in the past. It's difficult to turn up and strike lucky first time. In the 2015 final we were back up against the team who had beaten us two years before. We played at an incredible level, it was a title we couldn't let slip away. It was as if it were made for us. We couldn't let the opportunity pass and we didn't. The madridista fans gave us real strength. We would never have been able to come through a game like that without them”.
Childhood
“I was born in Cordoba and I feel as much from there as I do from Madrid. When I was young I had bright blonde hair, it was pretty long too and they used to call me Schuster. We all started with swimming, by 8 or 9 years old I was already competing and I wasn't bad. When my brother started playing basketball my parents went to his games and since I was so young, I always went with them and I began to enjoy it. When I was little I never imagined I'd be a professional basketball player. I never dreamed I'd get so far”.
Knee injury
“When I was in the youth team at Estudiantes, my coach told me I wasn't built to play basketball and then came the knee injury. I went for a check-up and the doctor took an X-ray and told me I had necrosis and that I'd have to give up basketball. I put a heavy orthopaedic knee brace on over my jeans and went to school wearing it for four months. Then, luckily, the doctor told me everything looked great and I had nothing to worry about”.
I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy time with my family and friends and I can see that time approaching.
“When you've got good teammates, being captain is easy. It's the doctor who gives the battle cry. Every game for Real Madrid is an important one, you can't underestimate any opposition and you've got to go out to give it your all”.
Family
“That's the most important thing. I love my siblings, my cousins, my mum, my wife, my daughter... All I want is for my daughter to be just as happy as I was when I was young and that's what I'm fighting for every day, so she wants for nothing and has only beautiful memories. I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy time with my family and friends and I can see that time approaching”.
His brother Alfonso
“Ever since I was a kid, he's been the player I've modelled myself on, my idol, and it's thanks to watching him that I'm the player I've become. Giving it your all out on court and fighting for every ball and rebound, I've copied it from him”.
Rebounds
“What helps me to win so many rebounds is my hunger, my positioning, as Samu the physio says, I've got a big but and that helps me to take so many rebounds”.
NBA
“I haven't gone because I've always felt very comfortable and happy at Real Madrid and that's how an athlete should feel at the club he's playing for. I had no need to go anywhere else”.