Spanish coach Aitor Karanka believes that the work done by José Mourinho and the players he had during his time at Real Madrid must be valued, and although he was not awarded with any Champions League, he does see the Portuguese with “some guilt” in the conquest of the four titles of recent years.
“The years after us won the Champions League and I think José and the players who were before could have had some blame, some seed was left behind. It couldn’t have been when we were, but I’m delighted it was afterwards, Karanka admitted in an interview this Monday to the ‘ESPN’.
In this sense, he appealed to the work that the Portuguese coach did when he arrived in 2010. “It came from many years without going beyond the eighths in the Champions League and the first year we reached the semifinals. Pepe’s expulsion against Barça conditions you a lot at the Bernabéu, but it was no excuse either, Barcelona was strong with Pep (Guardiola) training there for many years “he recalled.
“The following year the League was won, almost overwhelming with a record of points, we reached the semifinals of the Champions League and with an elimination almost sentenced in Munich, they scored a goal almost at the end. penalties, and players like Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaká fail there. Last year, the semifinal tie was already difficult in Dortmund (4-1), “he added.
The excentral referred to his relationship with that of Setúbal, whose call to take the merengue outfit as an assistant was “a surprise”. “We had never agreed and we got along wonderfully from the first moment,” said the Vitorian, happy to still maintain “the personal relationship” with the coach.
The Spanish coach indicated that the Portuguese always liked having “a coach who knew the house” by his side and that asked former colleagues such as Predrag Mijatovic, Luis Figo or Clarence Seedorf about their way of working. Luckily, everyone speaks well of me. I worked at the RFEF with Fernando Hierro who was the coach in the U-16 and who is the one who tells me that Jorge Valdano has called him, that José Mourinho wanted me as an assistant. At first I took it as a joke, “he confessed.
On the character of ‘Mou’ and his image before the media, Karanka believes that it does not have much to do with the real one and that “behind the media there is always a normal person.” “The José Mourinho coach has ways of working, of directing the matches and the press conferences, and working day by day within this requirement was wonderful,” he said.
Further, ruled out that the controversy with Iker Casillas cost him his friendship with the goalkeeper. “What is going. When you are in a team like Real Madrid you know the level of demand there is. There are times when the players who do not understand the decisions made by the coach and at those times, we all tried by all means that Real Madrid win “, he assured. “My relationship with Iker comes from when I am 17-18 years old and it is fantastic. When things are transparent and everyone wants the common good, there are no misunderstandings,” said Aitor Karanka.
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