“Raúl looks like Capello”

Together they won two Champions for him Real Madrid and now they will see each other for the first time … as coaches. Ivan Helguera (Santander, 1975) receives AS as brand new Las Rozas technician before measuring this Sunday to Raúl's Castilla (12: 00h.). Fate has wanted his first official league match on a bench to be against his old club …

Debut as a coach in a pandemic. That's adding yet another pirouette of difficulty.

Buff! (laughs). I didn't expect it when I decided to train. It is a surreal situation but we adapt, although we cannot use practically anything. We get along well.

You got the title of coach in 2012, why have you waited so long?

It's not that I waited, it's when you feel like it. I had very young children and preferred to spend time with my family. Now they are bigger, it is time. But I missed him, maybe you noticed that something was missing, and the way to return is as a coach.

Well, I see him physically in competition weight …

By weight yes, but then you see me running and it's not the same! (laughs). Some time ago I had surgery on the Achilles tendon and it is difficult to do certain movements. I have five operations on the body. Elite football forces you to take care of yourself when you quit …

Hierro, Morientes, Solari, Guti … His teammates who started their coaching career at Madrid. Why not Iván Helguera?

I am sure that if I had called Madrid they would have given me a position there, but I did not want to train such young boys and I did start with adults, more professional. That was given to me by Las Rozas. But there is a link with Madrid. We have three of his loans (Chechu, Algarra and Augusto) and we help each other. There is a connection and I love it, Madrid is my home and Las Rozas now too.

Before I have not mentioned Raúl to dwell more on him now. You make your debut against Castilla in '7', what a game.

Raúl is a winner, as a player and now as a coach, there is the Youth League. In that regard, he is a bit like Capello, when the competition starts he wants everything in its place, but then off the field he also reminds me of Fabio, he is a closer man.

Madrid see in Raúl the natural heir of Zidane …

We'll see. With Zidane it was done like that and it turned out well, it may be. Maybe I see Raúl de Zidane different, but he knows the house very well and can be a very good first team coach.

How do you see them different?

Zidane is not like Raúl in personality, nothing to do with it. And he does not care so much about the game, in my point of view, he leaves the players to develop their game. Raúl is much more methodical in this regard.

Am I the only one who sees aspects of Calcio in this new Zizou whose rings do not fall off for winning the games 1-0?

I learned a lot in Italy, before arriving I was a lot weaker and I learned tactically and Zidane too. Then here he was released, his football could be different because the defenses were not so far behind. But it shows that he learned a lot in his years there.

Is it true that you did cicerone of the Marseille star when he arrived in Madrid because they communicated in Italian?

Yes. It cost him because he is very introverted at first. One day I even went with him to buy furniture! (laughs). We also had the lockers together, because he wore '5' and I wore '6'. Zidane and I connected a lot, yes.

By the way, they took that number from you to give to Diarra. Is that the kind of thing you will never allow a player of yours as a manager?

It happened with López Caro. I try to avoid those kinds of things because I have lived them. We have an injured player and we are on top of him because I know what you feel. It seems that you are no longer valid, that's why here we also work with him coaching. They took my number off but I never lowered my arms and ended up playing. That I want to instill in my players.

I know it has been formed in coaching. Is it indispensable in modern football?

It is very important. It has helped me learn it and that is why I carry it out in Las Rozas. The player works physically, tactically, but very little mentally. It is necessary in elite sport. In football he has entered late, but it is essential to use him.

You have been trained since Zeman, a myth of Calcio, a Capello, Del Bosque … What are your influences?

I have tried to learn what they do well and what they do wrong, to identify it so as not to repeat it. I like a lot of coaches. Capello, especially in games, did not let you rest mentally, but then outside he was not as ogre as they painted him. He talked to the players, he laughed, he enjoyed the dressing room, oddly enough. But when the competition came it was something else … From Zeman … I remember athletics. Physically he crushed us, I became central with him, but his training sessions were for athletes. Their teams started very well, but then … With Vicente it is wonderful to remember what we lived through. He is a coach who has fulfilled me a lot.

Tell me about the philosophy you want now as a coach.

I want the player to enjoy the game. And passion, without it you can't get. From there I have my model and I think the way we play is for you to enjoy.

It refers to passion. Halfway through Spain when Iván Helguera is cited, that image comes to mind shouting at Al-Gandhour's face in the World Cup in Korea and Japan. Now, in the band, do you see it more calmly?

Sometimes that vein comes out, but I'm calmer. Sometimes I was too passionate in there. But that made me go perhaps a little further than others, that desire and attitude. I like to see that in the player, but in all this time without playing I have also realized that the player must be reassured and that he does not get so carried away by impulses …

We have a Classic around the corner …

I didn't even have it in my head! (laughs). I see a bit above Madrid, but it is still early.

It is not known if Hazard will be there. You lived through an ordeal with injuries and understand what it feels like. What is going through the head of the Belgian?

It is what Madrid entails. Or Barça, with Dembelé. Playing for Madrid is a very big responsibility when a player is injured too much. That generates a lot of pressure for the footballer. You have to give it confidence and eliminate everything that comes from outside. If not, it is difficult.

Is Madrid the one that has best adapted to this new normal that we have to live?

I don't know, but I am clear that he has the leader who works the most, which is Sergio Ramos. During the confinement he did nothing but work, that makes a winning team. With Cristiano we also had it. It is important to set an example. I don't know if other teams have a leader as good as Sergio.

Good luck on Sunday and in this labyrinthine new Second B.

I will give Raúl a hug and from there to compete. Match by match, there is no other.