MADRID, 24 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Real Madrid forward Athenea del Castillo acknowledges “the luck” of being able to share a team with the Scottish Caroline Weir, with whom “it is very easy to play” and with whom she also has “a very good connection”, while she does not hide that she needed to “disconnect for a few days” after the heavy blow of losing the final of the Copa de la Reina against Atlético de Madrid.
“It is very easy to play with her, you see what she does and very few people know how to do those things. I am lucky to be able to see her every day and above all to be able to learn every day from it. I am also lucky that we have a very good connection, that we understand each other very well and for me it is very very easy and a great privilege to be able to be with her every day”, Athenea del Castillo told Europa Press during the team’s concentration in Madrid.
The Cantabrian winger is currently with the team in the World Cup, an appointment that strengthens her spirits after a tough end to the season when she lost the final of the Copa de la Reina against Atlético de Madrid, after a match where they came to dominate 2-0 with just a few minutes left before her rival equalized with two goals in the final stretch, with 2-2 in the 96th minute, and ended up prevailing on penalties.
“I needed to disconnect for a few days because it was very hard for me not to achieve the goal, we wanted to win the first title with the Real Madrid shirt and I spent several nights without sleep, it was that dream I had since I was little. This will make me stronger so that in the future we know the mistakes we have made and not make them again in those games”, acknowledged the one from Solares.
The Champions League also eluded them, without being able to repeat the quarterfinals of the 21-22 season, although the initial group was of a high level with Chelsea and PSG. “We had very, very, very strong rivals in front of us and it is true that the team competed well in those games, but I think it was small mistakes that made the difference,” he explained.
“In the end, the goal of the club is to be able to be in the Champions League every year, to compete a little more each time and I think that the team competes a little better in Europe each time, which is the important thing. It is true that it could not end in the best possible way and each and every one of us is aware that we have to work harder and have more ambition and more enthusiasm”, added Del Castillo.
In any case, the Real Madrid player does not forget that “defeat makes you mature and makes you think that you cannot make mistakes, that you have to keep improving day after day”. “Logically, when we return we are going to have a lot of ambition and a lot of desire and we are going to work and work every day to be able to go much further and win many titles,” she declared.