Berenguer has unseated a Black pudding what was the reveal in preseason of Athletic. After his time at Calcio, he argues that he looks more mature. Today he has a litmus test in Valdebebas.
In Valencia they ended up with a bittersweet feeling.
We did a good second half, we managed to come back and in the end we lost the three points. Well, one more to the backpack and you have to continue playing as in the second half.
A terrible calendar awaits them in January. This commitment against Madrid is an aperitif.
It is an eleven against eleven football match. We are working every day in Lezama to get the maximum possible points.
Is what you are seeing in Athletic what was expected?
I feel very well at Athletic, everyone treats me super well, I fit in perfectly. I quickly adapted to the team, to all the teammates, and I am very happy to have returned to LaLiga.
He always speaks highly of his time in Italy. It has become more mature.
Yes, my three years in Italy have helped me to mature as a player, I am a more complete footballer. It has been crucial in my career to be the footballer that the whole world now sees.
He even has an Italian accent. He has lost his Navarrese …
Yes, they tell me a lot, ha ha ha.
He went to Turin for Sirigu, the goal he met in Osasuna. He had offers from Sporting de Portugal, Fiorentina and Naples …
Yes, Sirigu's call made me opt for Torino. I am very grateful to the club for everything it has done for me. I grew up as a gamer.
Torino is annoyed now, threatened by relegation.
I follow him a lot. They have good equipment. There has been a change of coach and they have to adapt. It is a job that will cost, but they will succeed.
Serie A is different from LaLiga. He once commented that there they “bite your ear.”
They have nothing to do with both competitions. Italian football is very close, it is very difficult to score goals, especially to small teams that close behind with many defenders. You never have one against one, there they plant two or three against one because there are many defensive aids. It is very difficult to shine for players like me who like to face.
The derby with Juve, against Cristiano, would be great.
A spectacular atmosphere is created. The city is overflowing with people. They were waiting for us at the stadium with flares. A beautiful frame is created.
In Turin they had a very bad time with COVID in March.
He caught us out of the blue. They were hard months, of being home without being able to do anything. Luckily I had my girl, Sofia. We played sports, we entertained ourselves with board games … Let's see if little by little this damn pandemic is ending and football is normalized. And, above all, the lives of the people.
Indeed, a bride was also brought from Italy.
I have been with Sofia for more than two years and I am very good with her, I love her very much.
Osasuna put an anti-Athletic clause on it.
I already said it: if I were anti-Athletic I would not be here, it was done in the contracts and there was no other option.
He even said that if he were to leave Osasuna for Athletic, they would have looked at him badly in Pamplona.
No! It is not so bad, it is a healthy rivalry of the northern teams, nothing happens. I have to enjoy here.
Are you pressed for the ten million it cost? The fourth most expensive in Bilbao after Íñigo Martínez, Yuri and Roberto Ríos.
I have no pressure for what they paid. I have to do my job and nothing else.
The promotion with Osasuna would fill him with happiness.
It was a very beautiful year, we entered the playoff in the last game … something spectacular. We were all very close, the group was incredible. We got the promotion and it was what the team deserved for all the work that year.
He was with Merino, do you consider it unforgivable not to have signed him in Bilbao?
I don't know if it was a mistake. I have known Mikel since we were little, I have played with him all my life. He is a great player. It is being seen, he goes to the National Team because he is spectacular and will give many things in football.
And Torres and Neymar are his mirrors …
Yes, I have been with Roberto for several years. He was the one who played in my position, he handles both legs well, he's smart and has a good ball hitting. Neymar is another world, it is the one I look to to improve my football.
And who do you like from Madrid?
I love Benzema, he doesn't make noise and he kills you.
Raúl García has always liked him and now he is by his side …
I'm very excited to have him around. I saw him as a child, then he went to Atleti. It is being with a champion every day, a lord captain. It's amazing to be able to play with him.
Carvajal will be measured, who comes from scoring a great goal.
He has already shown it in Madrid and the National Team, he is terrific. But I also have my qualities, I will do my best to make it difficult for him.
Garitano has said there is no potential to win straight away. Does it bother you?
No need to review it again. He trusts us and he shows us this every day.
They called him 'chick'!
And the team keeps calling me. When I got up to Osasuna's first team, Enrique Martín was there, as he was little and 18 years old, he told me: “You're going to be the chick.” They started calling me that and now my friends and family always tell me so.
Ontiveros moved everyone the other day with his tears for his grandmother with coronavirus. The human side of footballers …
We are normal people, with a job, like many people. Ours is to play soccer. Ontiveros showed that we are affected by family, friend or partner problems. We have a job that makes us feel privileged, but we are very normal people and we are affected by the problems that everyone has.
Have you played at the Bernabéu?
He did not touch me. I was injured at the beginning of that season that I was able to do it, when Osasuna had to play there. And I have not done it in Valdebebas either,
What would it mean to beat them after this perfect week for them?
To beat them there would be incredible, to defeat one of the best teams in the world, we are very focused on the idea of getting those three points forward,
They were beginning to question Zidane, crazy.
I can't get into that, but with the results it has and what it has achieved, what are you going to discuss?