Koke: “We face the game with respect, but without any fear”

Jorge Resurrección, Koke (Vallecas, 1992), is a veteran in derbies. The captain of Atlético, third player with the most games in the club's history (473) and who has played Real Madrid 26 times, attends AS aware that a red-and-white victory would establish the team in the lead, but does not look further. Atleti faces the visit to Real Madrid with respect, but without any fear.

How do you see the derby?

It is an exciting match. It is a day that you always mark on the calendar and you face it with enthusiasm, with the illusion of doing things well. It is very special and we hope things turn out well for us to win it.

It's a slightly atypical derby: Atlético arrives well and Real Madrid with ups and downs …

In the end, derbies are derbies, no matter where you are in the table, they are very special matches. We are going to do our best, like the games we have been doing at a good level. It will be the first derby to be played without people, it will be strange because of what is experienced in the previous matches, but you have to adapt.

He comes from the red and white quarry and has played many derbies. Do you remember the first one?

I have played so many that it is difficult to remember. The truth is that I have lived so many that I do not remember.

Atlético changed the streak of 14 years without winning, but did losing two Champions League finals mark you?

Reaching the Champions League final is spectacular. We were not lucky enough to win either of the two, we were on point, of course it marks you, but it is football, one has to win and the other lose. Hopefully we can make the fans happy and win a Champions League and hopefully I can be on the pitch to do it. If not, I will be there to encourage people to do it.

The scenario is different, it will not be played at the Bernabéu.

It's a shame, playing without people both at home and outside is strange. At home you miss people, when you're away you miss until they whistle at you. There will be no people, it is a pity, but hopefully it will be solved as soon as possible, that they get a vaccine or that there are fewer cases of COVID … We have to adapt, it is a derby that we are going to want to win, although it is true that it will be different . I played at Valdebebas when I was a little younger and I wasn't bad at it there.

Atlético already comes out in any field with a winning mentality.

We have always looked from you to you to the rival, we have always had the responsibility of going out to the field to win. The coach is so demanding that he wants to win the friendlies. When we have traveled abroad we have gone out to win the game. We didn't do it any other way. At this stage and at the beginning of Simeone we always face the matches face to face and we go out to win them.

He returned to the National Team and was happy, he lived 6-0 against Germany.

They were two years without being able to be in the Selection. I never imagined being out of the national team, because I was always since I was little, then I have gone five or six years and now two without going and it will be for something: maybe because I was not at my best or because I wanted to have other players. Now I'm in a good moment and we have to keep working. You have to add in the position that is, go to the calls or not. Adding the goal is closer and is a good thought for everyone. We all like to play the ninety minutes, but there are moments that add up in another way and we can achieve the objectives as a group, both in the national team and in Atlético.

He has handled all facets of football, from more positional with the National Team to another with Atlético, first on the counter and now on the attack.

I am lucky to be able to adapt or what the coach asks of me. The way we are playing is positive for the team. Last year was transitional, a lot of very important people or a style of play was leaving little by little and we have all adapted to the transition from last season to this one. We play 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 at the time of getting the ball, we change, varying depending on the players and the important thing is to adapt to what the coach asks, whether the whole game is played, twenty minutes or forty and five. We all have to add for the team to grow and to achieve the objectives

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Is Atlético a candidate, candidate or favorite to win the League?

Atlético only thinks about day-to-day life and the rest is up to you, if we are favorites, candidates or aspirants. The club sets us an objective, which is to enter the Champions League and then we have an internal objective, of course.

But in the dressing room they will want to win the League.

Internal objective. It is our thing, which we manage internally. The philosophy continues to be game by game. It seems thought, but the reality is the day to day.

Luis Suárez had him as a rival for many years and now he is at Atlético. What has surprised you the most?

It is difficult to be surprised by a player like this, we have already seen throughout his career how he handles all times and how he scores goals. But the hunger he has to win games, to score goals, to be plugged in, comes from winning everything and continues to want to win despite the titles he has. He is a top striker, so I am not surprised at how he has been doing it.

João Félix has started very well. Do you think he can be one of the best players in the world in a short time?

Hopefully, it still has a lot of growth. Last year was one of transition, not only for him, for everyone, of improving day by day and there has been a change when it comes to attacking, defending, being committed to what the coach asks of him. When he is like this, he will grow and little by little he is seeing the player we all want to see.

Which Real Madrid player do you like the most?

It is difficult to stay with one of Real Madrid, they have a very competitive squad, great players and it would be unfair to stay with one. When you get things it's because of the group you have and I like to look at the group more than at a player.

Llorente left Madrid for Atlético and will surely have a huge desire for a derby.

He will want to play against Madrid and all the games. He's at a spectacular level, he's had incredible growth in his new position, so to speak. He is a born worker, he did not play for five months or did not enter very much and the work has paid off. I'm really happy for him. He will be very keen and will make it spectacular, as usual. Also, know that field.

In recent years Atlético go to the Bernabéu almost as if they were at home.

We take a load off ourselves by beating Madrid in the Copa del Rey after so many years without being able to do so. We play from you to you, that's why the results come out. Sometimes you win, sometimes we can't take the victory, but we play good games there and that's the dynamic, go without fear, respecting the rival as we always do, but going to win the game.

His image planting the Atlético flag at the Bernabéu is part of the entity's history. He remembers?

Of course I remember it many times. When I go there I remember it, we are not going to fool ourselves, it was a historic moment for all the Atlético and for me, I wanted to leave my mark as a youth squad and as an Atlético and I was one more fan.

There are almost no images of that moment …

If it's a shame. I've tried searching for it everywhere.

Speaking of LaLiga, what moment do you remember with special affection from your visits to the Bernabéu?

The year we won LaLiga, the goal that Diego Costa scored is a spectacular moment, I give him the assistance with the outside and he makes it 0-1 and it is a point to continue believing that we had a good team and that we could do good things that year . It's a nice memory in LaLiga.

How do you see Madrid?

Madrid is always Madrid. Compete, and when you least expect it, fight for the League, the Champions League, the King's Cup … Everyone seems to speak ill of him, but then he is up and fights for all the titles. You have to respect him, even if people say he is not well, but at the end of the season he will fight for everything. You have to have respect for him, but we are not afraid to take the three points.

He has played on the wing, in the center, more defensive and now leading the team's game.

I always played midfielder when I was little. Even as a defensive midfielder, in recent games I have had to play further back, but where I have to play I will, as a midfielder or on the wing. And if I have to help as a goalkeeper, I'll help. It is true that in the middle I feel comfortable, more in contact with the ball, but I already said that I will play anywhere in order to help the team.

He will face Courtois, perhaps with Oblak one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

They are two of the best in the world. We have the best, which is Oblak, and Courtois is having a great season. He had a beautiful time at Atlético, he went to Chelsea, then to Real Madrid, but he is a teammate and you have to wish him well. I wish all the former teammates I have had the best, except when he plays against Atlético, which I wish him to always lose.

Ramos is a teammate of Spain, but now a rival. After that goal in Lisbon …

When we play against Madrid we always have to go out to win them. He had the fortune to score that goal, he does not forget, but it is football. Soccer always gives you revenge every weekend. When we play against them we have the option to go out and win and do our best.

Ramos, criticizing one of his teammates, said that you represent Atlético's values. Are you proud that Madrid sees you like this?

Yes, I am proud. I have tried or have learned from I was little what Atlético is, I am an Atlético fan, I try to do the best for Atlético and from the outside you can see that I carry Atlético's values ​​in style and that is why I would say it.

He has spent a hundred games in Europe being the first Atlético player to do so …

I am proud too. It is something historical, that nobody could do it. That means that Atlético is always in Europe, which is something positive for the club, and for me it is something incredible, you dream of playing for Atlético, in the team of your life, but playing more than a hundred games in Europe, in the League also a lot of games, so to speak … I'm proud, I'm not sticking with that, I'm sticking with the work I've been doing over the years so that Atlético is as high as possible. If I have played those games it is because I will be doing something well.

He is also third in the ranking of players who have defended the rojiblanca shirt the most times, he only has Adelardo and Tomás Reñones ahead …

Sometimes I talk to Tomás, we have him next to him in the locker room, and I joke that he gave a lot of wax. I'm proud that someone from the house has so many games, it means that they value people from the quarry. The work I am doing with so many games means that I am doing something well and that is important for the growth of the club and that I have within the team.

He will miss the fans and will really want him to return to the stadium.

Many. When I go out to the stadium it is sad not to see your fans singing to you or when you fight each ball or when things are not going well or when you look at the stands and you don't see your family … it's a shame. Football without people is football, but it is not football. You need the people, the fans, hopefully I can return as soon as possible. In our field they win games by themselves because they do not stop encouraging you, pushing, being in difficult moments and many times we get the games thanks to them.

Christmas is coming and we give you the choice between LaLiga and the Champions … Which one do you keep?

I want to get to December well and when the end of the season comes, we hope we will be living together for LaLiga and the Champions League. I've been lucky enough to win a league, it's incredible, it's competing on one Saturday and another Saturday, and another, competing against great rivals, and seeing that Real Madrid and Barcelona are winning from behind. It is very difficult to win a league. I have not been lucky enough to win a Champions League, but it is not something that obsess me. It is a dream to want to win it, but it does not obsess me. I want Atlético to be as high as possible, to have the stability that it has now and if the titles come, the better.

The Copa del Rey is also a beautiful and historic title for the club.

The Cup has given us a lot. The day of the Bernabéu that we won the last Cup gave us to change the mentality, not only to the players but to all Atlético that great things could be done and look at what we have been doing in recent years.

Can you tell Suárez to tell Messi to come to Atlético?

That boy is good, yes, he is good (laughs). It's hard. Leo has made his career in Barcelona, ​​it will be difficult for him to get out of there. Why not at Atlético? Sometimes talking to friends we laugh a lot and ask ourselves: How would you convince Messi to bring him to Atlético? Economically it is difficult because you cannot pay the salary you earn in Barcelona. Throwing the issue of the Champions, if we do not have any Champions, maybe. You never know. Players often measure ourselves by the hunger to win things and things that maybe in clubs have not been able to win. Maybe by shooting him so Suárez can convince him. It's football, we have a great squad, the players we have are spectacular and I hope it will be the great year of the Champions League.

We say goodbye, but we ask him to give us a result for tomorrow's derby.

I'm going to get wet this time. 0-1. Come on. I sign it right now.