Is he franchise player of this Royal Society. A leader who with only 23 years He has already played more than 150 games in the First Division. After overcoming the coronavirus, he arrived right on the first day. But receives Real Madrid already in optimal conditions to return to ownership.
How do you feel about the coronavirus?
Fine, I'm fine now. Recovered. Since last week with the team.
How did it take to get infected?
Well, I took my positive as naturally as possible. It is that anywhere it can touch you, no matter how many precautions you take.
And that from the outside, the feeling is that they are very protected, like stuck in a bubble …
Yes, but we are concerned about the situation we are experiencing. As much as we are further away from everything and we are lucky enough to have many tests done, we know that we are also exposed like everyone else. Let's hope that little by little all this will happen and we can get better.
Of course, the current situation means that until that Cup final that they delayed to play with the public there are doubts that it will be celebrated like this, have they come to regret that decision they made?
No, it goes. It is that it is a moment in which people have to be because it is a special match. It was an opportunity that we had to wait for, if we had to sacrifice something, it was in that, because in the league for all the interests we had, we had to play even if the fans. An effort was made to wait for the people, and no one is sorry for that and if it were to be taken again, I would not hesitate.
In the first game, they lacked rhythm, do short vacations and an atypical preseason influence that?
I don't know, this year it has played like this and you have to get used to it. We already knew that the holidays were going to be short, we know what we are exposed to, but we are really looking forward to another good year.
Do you think that everything is strange in football than when it was possible to finish last season?
As is logical, a pandemic like this conditions everything. We already had this type of situation, with strict and strange protocols. Everything is conditioned by that. And we must be well prepared to give the callus again until now. There is a lot of uncertainty, but the team takes it well.
Have they started the most exciting and demanding season in the history of the Real?
Can be. There are many open fronts and very exciting. We must take it with a point of ambition and say that this becomes something habitual and not something extraordinary, because the club deserves to be at the top. This should be something that happens every year and not circumstantial.
Is that his generation is very close to being able to lift a title …
We know it and we take it very seriously. I've dreamed of something like this my whole life. And the team is working for that. We want to be prepared for when the key moments arrive.
For this they have a luxury reinforcement, what memories do you have of David Silva from when he played for Eibar, his hometown team?
Well, when I was little I went to Ipurua with my parents, and my memory of the first great soccer player I saw is Silva. It was a year, but it was incredible. Then when you get older you realize how lucky you have seen him at home.
So when he found out that he was signing for the Real, he must have hallucinated …
Yes, but what may seem to me personally, what I believe is that it is a very important gesture for the club. That you choose to come to the Real before other bigger sites is something that must be taken into account and speaks well of the Real.
You are ready to play, how do you see it in your early days at Zubieta?
It is one more. You see him and he brings play, and he also gives us a lot, because he has lived through many moments and it will help us to grow and train. We have to learn a lot from him.
But of course, Silva came because Odegaard left. How did he experience his departure to Madrid when nobody thought he would leave?
At first, of course, you get a bit down. Because it is not something we expected. It takes us all by surprise. But more than being sad because he did not stay the second year, what we must do is thank him for everything he has given us in one year, how he always behaved and the spectacular treatment on a day-to-day basis.
Do you see Odegaard ready to succeed in Madrid?
He has the capacity and sufficient qualities to succeed in Madrid. What is going to be in hand, he has, because he will be willing to give everything. Here it already did. Nothing was left. He really wants to succeed with Zidane and I hope he has that point of luck that you have to have so that things go well for him in Madrid.
How important is it to maintaining last year's block?
I believe that to build a project there must be a strong block that is always there and supports. And that is, because the club is doing things very well. We must continue like this. Little by little I'm sure that everything will go better if we continue in this way.
Fill in the sentence: The 2020-21 season would be good for you if it ends …
(Smiles) I don't know. Everybody wants to lift a title. We all want to be as high as possible in all the competitions we play. And may we win the Cup final. So, if you want to put something up, then win it all. But that is very difficult, of course.
How does it take to be installed in the aristocracy of La Liga players?
Well, it is a reason to be happy. That Real players are taken into account and that they go to the national teams is a sign that things are being done well on the field. It is a reason to be happy personally, but collectively much more. For example, Merino is at a very high level and it was fair that the national team called him, because his strength on the field is very great.
But of course, that makes his name come up a lot in the rumor mill of signings of the greats of Europe …
Yes, but I have always been calm. I have never had any intention of anything, but what happens in the world of football and what surrounds it I cannot control. Many things come out even if they are not entirely true or are doubts, in the end there will always be that. I am calm, I have no intention of anything, to leave the Real. I want to continue growing and helping the team. I do not think in another thing.
What do you think when you are considered a reference with only 23 years old?
Well, I'm proud of what I'm doing, but I don't want to settle, I want to continue doing things well and I want to continue making my story here at the club, at La Real. That is why I have to improve more to help, always thinking collectively.
For example, helping Madrid win again this Sunday, do you have more desire to win after last year's controversy?
Nerd. We want to win, because it is the next game. We know how demanding and difficult it is, and we will have to do everything right to win. And we only focus on the match. The referee is another person and, of course, there will be times when he makes a mistake. They are not to blame.