Casemiro: "People believe that football is goals and assists"

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Casemiro, last Tuesday in the sports city of Real Madrid.GABRIEL BOUYS (AFP)

Four days before the Champions League final, Carlos Henrique Casemiro (São Paulo, 30 years old) and Carlo Ancelotti chat alone, almost hidden, in the corner of a secondary bench in Valdebebas while Kroos, Modric, Asensio and Carvajal, among others , speed up training with a shot-on-goal challenge.

In Paris, Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool awaits them, the coach against whom the Brazilian pivot was presented to the world in 2014 when the German led Dortmund, whom he beat in the 2018 final and the last obstacle in this crazy Champions League The whites.

Ask.

Carletto has just said that in the future he sees you as a coach.

Response.

I'm still 30 years old and I'm too young to think about that.

But I'm glad you say it.

I prefer the part that I understand tactics much more than a soccer player.

Q.

How many Liverpool games, or clips, have you watched in recent weeks?

A.

Many.

And, when we have played against other teams, he was training for Liverpool.

The coach tried to give us breaks because it was a demanding season.

I've already seen a lot of them and I'm sure Ancelotti is very clear about how to hurt them.

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Q.

Do you take notes or do you keep everything in your head?

A.

Of course I take notes.

In the end, it is studying football and I love that.

It's more in the head, in understanding and thinking about the game, but you have to take notes.

P.

What is the most difficult thing about being a pivot?

R.

Sacrifice yourself for others and not have the leading role.

What people want is to score goals, provide assists and play beautifully.

And the pivot, especially in Madrid, is sacrifice, helping teammates, stealing balls, covering gaps... Sometimes people don't see that.

The midfielder sacrifices much more for the rest.

P.

Do you have to have a special generosity to play there?

R.

The defensive midfielder has to be generous in putting out fires.

And many times people don't see it.

You don't steal a ball, but cover a hole.

Yes, you have to be more generous.

P.

I suppose that it is easier to run for others when you are young than when you have four Champions.

A.

I think not.

The hardest thing is to stay at the high level.

That's why I admire this template.

We've won four [Champions] and we're back there.

We fight every day to get to this.

“Now I run even more than five years ago”

Q.

Does it run the same now as it did five years ago?

R.

Or even more.

Because when you win, you can get people used to it badly, always giving the highest level.

The key is to stay.

P.

In his origins he was a striker at Moreira, in Brazil, and he scored goals against Portuguesa Santista de Neymar.

R.

I always joke with him that in the quarry he lost with my team and then also as seniors.

We have a beautiful friendship.

It is a joke of friends of more than 15 years together.

P.

How do you analyze your season?

A.

Very good.

When you talk about football, you talk about collective efforts.

Of four titles, we have won two and we are in the Champions League final.

It is a very good year for everyone.

P.

Personally, do you get a good grade?

A.

Of course.

I am the starter and we have won two titles out of four, and we are in this final.

P.

This season you have seen less goalscorer (from seven goals last year to one in the current one).

Has Ancelotti asked you to go up less?

R.

People always see the goals and assists, and believe that football is this.

And no, it is much more.

It's covering gaps, helping colleagues, talking to them, putting out fires on all sides.

Because people see the goals, but this is not the case.

The great example is Karim.

He's scoring a lot of goals and people talk about him and the Ballon d'Or, but nothing has changed for me.

He is the best

for years.

P.

Riquelme said the other day that now the game revolves around

and not

.

What do you think?

R.

Before you lived on

, but modern football has changed.

The key is that the coach adapts to the squad.

I looked at Dunga or Makelele, and before the midfielder only stole balls.

Now he has to steal and make the team play.

Every footballer must show many things.

The forward also defend and the central, have quality.

"Ancelotti's ambition has surprised me after everything he has won"

Q.

What has Ancelotti given you?

R.

He is a football man.

He's been at this for more years than my entire life.

I have a lot of respect for him, you have to listen to him when he speaks.

What he has surprised me the most is his desire to win after everything he has achieved.

His ambition.

P.

How was that conversation at the beginning of the season in which you told him that you thought he had made a mistake with you in the first stage because of how little he had put into it?

R.

In the end, there is a respect if you choose one or the other.

In the first stage he preferred others because he had high-quality players.

I respect.

This year I am enjoying a lot with him, I am here to help.

P.

From the final in Kiev to this one in Paris, Kroos, Modric and you have remained unchanged.

How have they experienced this journey in the old guard?

R.

We always have the ambition to reach the final every year.

Although people do not believe it, we work for that.

That's why we're going to the fifth final.

The key is to play every year as if it were the first.

We are happy for the season, but the most important thing remains.

“Whatever happens in the final, the nights we have done this year do not go out”

P.

Will the comebacks come to nothing if they are not champions?

R.

They are historic matches.

Of course, if you don't win the title, you leave with the feeling that we haven't achieved what we want, but the nights we've had don't go away.

That is the history of the club.

Father

Casemiro, 30 years old.

Kroos, 32. Modric, 36. How long do they have together?

R.

It is difficult to talk about that.

I enjoy the moment.

P.

Have you ever commented that now they understand each other almost without speaking.

But how were its beginnings?

R.

We always understood each other.

Each one has their characteristics, but I can't defend alone, Kroos can't organize alone and Modric can't pull off magic alone.

We help each other and the whole team helps us.

P.

Kroos and Modric were already playing together and then you joined.

What did it give them?

A.

Defensive power, but I insist that I can't do it alone.

I appreciate your help.

And I also help them with the ball.

We make a very nice mix.

P.

Camavinga is the one who is replacing you lately, what do you say?

R.

You still have to choose if you want to be

or

.

If you want to be a

, you have to sacrifice for others, you have to help your teammates.

P.

What is the advice that you repeat the most to your young compatriots?

R.

Enjoy the game, the week, the moment, because it is not easy to get here, to a Champions League final.

Although you see that others have four, there are great players who have none.

The Brazilian, among the nine candidates for the club of the five Champions

Casemiro is part of the large group of Real Madrid players who aspire to their fifth Champions League this Saturday.

In addition to the Brazilian, Benzema, Carvajal, Nacho, Modric, Kroos (he achieved one with Bayern), Marcelo, Isco (not yet played in this edition) and Bale could be crowned for the fifth time, a summit where Cristiano Ronaldo appears (four with Madrid and another with United).

If the old format of the European Cup is included, in which only the champions of their Leagues played, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta (both with Milan), Alfredo Di Stéfano, José María Zárraga also appear on that list with five crowns. , Marcos Alonso, Rafael Lesmes, Héctor Rial and Juanito Alonso (these last six with Madrid).

On the throne of the competition, regardless of what accounting is done, Paco Gento appears, with six.

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