Álvaro appeared in the press room of Ciudad Real Madrid and analyzed the match against Sevilla on matchday 37 of La Liga, which will take place at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium (Sunday, 7:00 pm CEST; Orange TV and Dazn): “Sevilla, if I'm not mistaken, has won the last three matches and has been doing very well under Luis. He is a coach with great experience; we all know how his teams work and the turnaround he has achieved at Sevilla. And it’s a stadium that is always exciting for us due to the complexity involved and the atmosphere created when Real Madrid plays there, with a fanbase that is certainly one of the best in Spain. It's a great club, and being their last home game of the season, the players will undoubtedly want to put on a great performance in front of their fans against Real Madrid. A tough battle, once again.” 

Mbappé
“Right now, just as I was coming up, I saw him and already told him to stay calm, that I’d handle it. I understand that many of these things might seem like news. Everything he said in the mixed zone was something he had already spoken to me about beforehand. I approach it much more naturally because, as I always tell my players, I’ve been there and I know what they feel in any situation. I know what it’s like to play every day, I know what it’s like to play less, and I know what it’s like not to play at all. I completely understand how they feel when they don’t play. I know he wasn’t happy the other day, and I like that. I wouldn’t understand if Kylian Mbappé didn’t want to play with his team, even in a situation like this. For me, it’s something far more normal than what has been made of it. In the situation he was in, rightly or wrongly, I thought it was best for him to play a bit in the second half to be ready to play on Sunday. If there hadn’t been that game on Sunday, the situation would have been entirely different, but that’s all. I see everything that has happened these days as very normal, and my relationship with Mbappé remains the same.” 

Does it bother you that these conversations become public?
"No, not at all. Whenever I talk to the players, I think about what I say—not that it might come out—but that I genuinely mean it, and I’m not afraid of them commenting or expressing any of the conversations we’ve had. When they speak to me in private, I like to keep it private. I understand, and it neither bothers nor hurts me that they might make a conversation they had with me public. I spoke to him before the game, and what I explained to him is what he explained to you. There’s no bigger issue."

Learning
"I came here four months ago as a Primera RFEF coach, and the day I leave, I will leave as the coach of Real Madrid. A first-division coach, having managed Champions League matches. I don’t think there are many coaches who can say the same. For me, these four months have been an incredible experience, a massive personal and professional learning curve. Defending this badge and standing before you every day has also been a great growth experience—it has been like a master’s degree. The day this ends, I believe that, apart from having grown, I will leave with a clear conscience." 

How would you like to be remembered?
"Real Madrid has millions of fans, and some will agree more than others. For me, the important thing—or at least what I’ve always felt—is the affection of the fans. I’m 43 years old, and of those 43, I’ve spent 20 as a youth player at Real Madrid, as a first-team player, as an ambassador, as a youth coach, and now these past months as the first-team coach. That’s many years at the place I consider my home and my club. What I feel is a great deal of affection, and that’s it. I don’t think it’s a question I can really answer."

Is Mourinho the solution for this dressing room?
“I don’t really understand the idea of an unmanageable dressing room, or at least I don’t share it. It’s not something that defines the Real Madrid dressing room. The day the club makes a decision regarding next season’s coach is something they will announce when they see fit. Regarding Mourinho, I think I’ve been very clear throughout my life about what I think of him. For me, as his player, but above all as a madridista, I feel and believe he is number one. A colleague of yours asked me a few days ago if I still think what I said when we faced him in the Champions League, and I will continue to think that José has been, is, and will always be uno di noi. If he is the one here next season, I will be very happy to see him back home.”

What has been the most difficult thing in these four months?
"The most difficult thing in this club is always when you don’t win. And that’s what hurts me the most: not having helped the club and the players achieve their goal, which was to win titles. That’s what we all wanted. The hardest thing at Real Madrid is always when you don’t win because of the level of expectation we have and because of the hopes of so many people that rest on our shoulders. Not having been able to help them is what has hurt me the most and is undoubtedly the biggest disappointment I take away from these four months." 

Disclaimer: Translation generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain inaccuracies.