“After winning the Champions League they didn’t congratulate you”

The Frenchman won four Champions Leagues, three leagues, the King’s Cup, three Super Cups and four club world cups during his time in Chamartín. He got used to winning, but decided to make the leap to the Premier League last summer. In an interview with the English newspaper The Telegraph, Varane highlights the winning mentality of the white club and the challenge it faces with Manchester United, a club that could have arrived ten years ago had it not been for a call from Zinedine Zidane, then sports director of the Real Madrid. All this despite the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson he had visited his family home to try to convince him to go to England with him. “The first idea was to go to United. It was a crazy moment in my life, ”says Raphäel. “I was playing in the Lens first team and the club knew they had to sell me, so there were a lot of agents who called me. I was tired because there were so many things to do and to think about. When Zizou He called me, I was busy and I didn’t know it was him at first. When I recognized him, I stayed in shock and I told him to call me later. When he did, the signing accelerated ”.

In Madrid he learned to win, but in the interview he acknowledges that he missed celebrating and savor the successes achieved during his decade in Spain. “After winning the Champions League, the fans don’t congratulate you,” he explains. “They tell you, ‘Okay, go for the next one.’ That was after the first, and I won four. But they always said ‘very well, for the next one’. Sometimes I think you have to enjoy what you have, and what you had was very good. We didn’t always celebrate it together because, for example, after the last Champions League we had the World Cup. Sometimes I wanted to hit the pause button and have time to celebrate the successes ”.

“That is why Real Madrid is special”, keep going. “Because he has this mentality, he is different. That is why I wanted to change. Not because I don’t like this mentality or because it’s bad, it’s very good, but I wanted to try something different ”.

And that new challenge he found in Manchester. “For this club it is important to be at the top. It is a great challenge. A challenge that motivates me. I won everything in Madrid, then I looked for something different. Defend history. You have to fight for something that is bigger than yourself. You have to fight for the club, for the fans and for history. It’s very important”.

Raphäel Varane has played nine games, three in the Champions League and six in the Premier League. In those duels, his team has only lost twice, and averages one goal conceded per game. One of the things that the Frenchman has enjoyed the most since his arrival in England has been the atmosphere, and he acknowledges that it was one of the main factors in signing for the Mancuniano club. “Manchester United is special because of that, and England is different if you compare it to other countries in Europe.” And the duel against Atalanta on October 20 gave an example, although he did not participate. “We were losing 0-2 at Old Trafford and we won 3-2. The stadium pushed the team. In other countries it is different if you are losing 0-2, the environment would be very different ”.