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Also on the eve of another Champions League match, when Zidane's future on the Real Madrid bench was shaking in the forward, Sergio Ramos, the white captain, appeared in the press room. The team did not take the flight, a storm was coming and the center showed support for the technician and commitment of the staff. Almost four months later, within hours of receiving Manchester City (21.00, Movistar Champions League) from Guardiola on Wednesday after another sequence of disappointing results, this Tuesday in Valdebebas, Ramos has returned to the spotlight: "There comes a time where I like to go out and show my face, because in the end I feel more comfortable when things go wrong, even when they are going well. The most delicate moment comes, because the margin of error is minimal. The decisive week arrives and here is where you really see uncles. Children have to be left aside, "he explained.
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The intensity of the turbulence caused by the elimination in the Cup and the loss of the league leadership after the last two setbacks (Celta and Levante) does not approach the shocks of last October, but doubts have appeared. "Football are the results. We lost games playing well, as against Levante. We played a great game, but we were not fine in the face of the goal. And the goal ends up penalizing you," he said, looking optimistically at the next two commitments in the Bernabéu. "We have an ideal opportunity to hit the table winning."
As usual in Zinedine Zidane, the white captain has clung to work to straighten the two areas of the game in which the main weaknesses have been glimpsed in recent dates. In the first place, the defense, point at which the white takeoff prior to the downturn was supported: "We will try to continue in the previous dynamic, with few spaces between the players, the lines and attentive to the aids and adjustments. We have placed a lot of emphasis in those little details, which were what made us where we were, "he said. And from there, to the other area: "The ball will end up entering," Ramos said.
He trusts in the work and the motivation that the European Cup supposes to them: "When the Champions League arrives, sometimes you arrive badly and you make a great match", he said, and he wanted to untie what it means for the competition for Madrid old and intense rivalry with Pep Guardiola, City coach. "It is not a plus for us. There is plenty of motivation when that hymn sounds. One forgets that and only thinks about moving on to the next phase. If we beat him, then after some other joke could fall," he ended up granting with a smile.
Less concessions have been made in that area Zidane: "It's only a Real Madrid-Manchester City; it's not a Guardiola-Zidane. It's a football game, and what people want to see is that. It's a nice game, we're happy because we want to play these games and that's it. "
In addition to the rivalry of years between exbarcelonista Guardiola and the white entity and Zidane himself, the two technicians are also joined by a small common past. When the Frenchman was preparing to coach in 2015, he visited the Spaniard in Munich, where he spent two days exchanging impressions. "We were inspired by what he did. We are not worried or afraid to play against his teams. He was very sincere and open and I learned a lot from him," said Zidane, who wanted to reserve the details of those days. Like what he prepares for his new meeting, the one that will happen this Wednesday at the Bernabéu: "I am not going to tell you anything. Nor what we are going to do or anything ...".
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