Real Madrid News
Iker Casillas talks Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Real Madrid future
Real Madrid are set for a massive summer ahead, as Florentino Perez and co. look to make widespread changes to the squad that has underwhelmed in Europe over the past few years.
The thirst for quality is apparent as the club had been consistently linked with moves for footballing superstars such as Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, among many others.
In a recent interaction with the media, Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas has opined on the club’s pursuit of these generation talents, suggesting their potential arrival might not “solve anything“ right now.
Speaking to AS, Casillas said: “To speak about players that I would like to come, if you ask me when I was 22, probably yes, easily. But at 40 now, nothing is gonna get solved.”
“In fact, Mbappé is with his team, he will look for his interests for his team and tomorrow I don’t know where he’ll be. Of course I love it as a player, I wish he were at Real Madrid, I’d enjoy it much more, but it doesn’t depend on me, it depends on other things that have to happen,” he added.
A three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid and a five-time Spanish champion, Casillas urged the club to focus on the current season and sealing the league title come May. He insisted both Mbappe and Haaland are “great players” but “right now they are not going to solve the season” for Los Blancos.
“Real Madrid’s season goes through staying firm in league, which seems to be being achieved even though it hasn’t been achieved yet, and it goes through a ‘Champions’ in which, after everything that has happened this time, they want to achieve pass against a very strong team, one of the strongest”, the 40-year-old added.
Real Madrid are currently sitting top of La Liga table with a healthy eight-point lead over Sevilla. It appears unlikely that Carlo Ancelotti’s men will surrender the lead anytime soon, with Los Blancos currently on a run of three consecutive victories in the league.
Casillas went on to implore the Real Madrid fans to keep supporting the current set of players without drooling over too much on Mbappe or Haaland.
“Haaland or Mbappé are not at Real Madrid right now, so right now they are not going to solve anything for you. You have to wait and enjoy with those who are there, who have earned the right for all Madridistas to enjoy their conquests”
The goalkeeper added: “Let’s hope and hope that Real Madrid goes to the next phase (…) That the players on this field make the Bernabéu enjoy and that we live a magical night of those from a long time ago that due to the pandemic they have not been able to live”
Real Madrid News
Rayo Vallecano manager names the one Real Madrid figure he would remove from the team
Rayo Vallecano face a daunting trip to the Santiago Bernabeu to take on a wounded Real Madrid this weekend.
Life after Inigo Perez has not been kind to the Vallecas-based club, who have already had to travel to Camp Nou and now face a trip to the home of their city giants.
Speaking ahead of the game (h/t Madrid Xtra), Rayo Vallecano manager Benat San Jose was asked which Real Madrid player he would like to remove from the team before this weekend’s game.
Surprisingly, his choice was not Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior or Thibaut Courtois.
“Mourinho”
Asked which Madrid player he would take out of the upcoming contest, Benat jokingly chose the man sitting on the opposition bench.
“Which Real Madrid player I’d remove from the match against them? Mourinho,” Benat said with a laugh.
The answer might have been delivered jokingly, but the Rayo coach immediately made clear just how highly he rates the Portuguese manager.
“He’s one of the best managers in history,” he added.
It is significant praise ahead of Saturday’s meeting at the Bernabeu.
Madrid’s squad contains enough individual quality to give any opposition coach several obvious answers, but Benat instead highlighted the influence Mourinho can have over the entire team.
That has become particularly relevant since the Portuguese coach returned to Madrid. His early work has focused on making a talented group function with greater collective discipline.
Courtois and Madrid’s attack also praised
Benat did not stop with the manager.
“They also have one of the best GKs in history and one of the best attackers in history,” he said.
Benat will definitely have seen how Thibaut Courtois played against Inter Milan in midweek and will hope that version does not turn up again this weekend.
Even when teams manage to create opportunities against Madrid, they still have to beat one of the defining goalkeepers of his generation.
At the opposite end, Madrid possess attacking quality capable of turning a match on its head.
The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham can all decide matches single-handedly.
Madrid have a point to prove
Madrid are coming off a disappointing loss to Real Betis in La Liga last weekend and will come into this game with a point to prove.
They will want to ensure that the loss to the Andalusian club was a one-off and that they return to winning ways against Rayo.
Their title rivals, Barça, have been flying high in the league, scoring goals and picking opponents apart for fun.
Madrid need to ensure that they do not hand too much early incentive to Barça, and it remains to be seen how Los Blancos fare against Rayo Vallecano.
