Real Madrid coach Rafa Benítez previewed tomorrow’s game against Inter Milan in his first meeting with the press in China. Much of the press conference was centred around other matters, such as his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo and the crisis meeting between Sergio Ramos and Florentino Pérez.
Monday’s game against Inter: “Playing here is different. Inter are a very strong and prestigious side. For us, it’s always an extra stimulus to play against strong teams such as Inter Milan”.
Ramos and Florentino: “I wasn’t expecting that question. During dinner last night I was told that they have arranged to meet but I haven’t been able to talk directly to either of them as I was busy with the team’s training session”.
How is Ramos taking all of this? “During dinner, the president told me that they were going to have a private chat but I haven’t had the chance to talk to either of them yet… I watched Ramos score from 25 metres out and he seems fine to me. After a long flight James has arrived with a good attitude. Tomorrow we will decide who will play and for how long”.
Cristiano Ronaldo: “My relationship with him is good. When someone gets angry during a training session, but then does their job, there’s no problem, it’s fine”.
Casilla and the starting XI: “Here it’s different because of the heat and humidity. We still haven’t decided. We’ll see how things are tomorrow”.
Benzema and Modric: “Both of the trained apart because of fitness issues. Tomorrow we’ll decide if they play or not”
Lin Lianming: “I don’t speak about players who are not ours. We’re here for an important game”.
Isco and James: “As a coach I am delighted to have players with quality like his. To be competitive, they need to be at 100% and after that I will make my decision. Both of them are going to make my job much harder”.
The pitch: “We had our first session today and spent most of it running to see how the playing surface was. Tomorrow we’ll work out on the pitch and I’m sure it will be fine”.
Preparation: “We have a few players with minor problems and we won’t be taking any risks. My priority is to make sure that all the players are in good form and feel well. The training sessions in Australia were fantastic; now we are in good conditions we’ll have top wait and see how we get on during the rest of the pre-season”.
Welcome in China: “It’s always nice to feel the admiration the fans have for the players. The fans always give us a boost and are asking us for autographs or photographs and that is always good”.