• Rodrygo's story "We have a terrific child ..."

The halls of Valdebebas are very warm thanks to the large windows that open the walls of the buildings. Natural light rules in the residence of the players because the architects wanted it that way. In the offices the greenery of the fields and the drawing of the skyscrapers of the city, in the background. Also the mountains, beyond. Rodrygo Goes (Osasco, Brazil, 2001) confesses that it is now when he begins to notice the pinch of the cold that Vinicius had announced a year ago, when he was still playing at Santos and his friend started at Real Madrid.

The two are already engaged in the routine of this new team of Zinedine Zidane , leader of the League after finishing the first round and with boarding pass in hand to fly today to Saudi Arabia, where he expects the Spanish Super Cup ( semifinal on Wednesday before Valencia, 8:00 p.m. ). In this white rebirth, of goals to zero and fresh faces, has been placed with goals and self-confidence Rodrygo.

The 18-year-old boy quickly passed through Castilla to be fighting Gareth Bale for the job now. Enter slowly, dragging the flip flops, in the room where the interview with THE WORLD awaits. Sideways, although he has been more times, look at the walls decorated with photographs of the latest titles celebrations in La Cibeles.

At Christmas, in Brazil, what have you told about Madrid and Madrid? I've been a few days, just five, but I've taken the opportunity to rest and be with family and friends, in Santos. It was my turn to wear many shirts. I have told you that everything good about the club and the city is true. It's being a great start for me, much better than expected.

Madrid's plan was for Rodrygo to train with the first team but play with the subsidiary. However, he only dressed in two games of the Second B. The injuries of James, Bale and Lucas Vázquez accelerated his promotion.

How was your first talk with Zinedine Zidane? An unforgettable moment. I got very nervous, I didn't know what to tell him. He was a great player and a great coach. What does he ask for? Talk to me a lot. He tells me to enjoy the ball, to help. That goes up and down. He says that I have quality and that I will grow a lot. What are his childhood memories of Real Madrid? The goal of Sergio Ramos in the Tenth celebrated it so much that my mother was scared. I was very happy. 'What's up, what's up?' She asked me. I screamed as if it were a goal of the national team in the World Cup. He was a Brazilian Real Madrid player. In Brazil you always have your team there and a European one. And mine were Santos and Madrid. He knew me until the anthem of the Tenth. Last year I recorded and sent a video to the [Florentino Pérez] presi singing it. Are you comfortable in Madrid? I like the city. It's big, like Sao Paulo, although not so much. I knew little so far, because in the afternoon I am at home quiet, working in the gym I have. Yes I was in the Retiro, the Plaza Mayor, in the center and in restaurants that I liked, such as Amazónico or De María.

Rodrygo lives with his parents and his little sister, two years old. They had him as teenagers (16 and 15 years old). Everyone then settled with the grandparents. Now they reside in the old Madrid house of Julio Baptista and go to Mass on Sundays that there is no match.

His father was a footballer, and my grandfather, and my uncles. One of them runs the academy that I have in Osasco, the city where I was born. I slept between balls. My mother also played football in her neighborhood. My father was in second and first class clubs. We followed him all over Brazil to see him play. It was always my inspiration. He keeps giving me advice after matches and training. Sometimes I say 'Dad, let me, I'm tired' ... But then I regret it. I always listen to him, because he is right. I am what I am for him. My family is the best possible. Do you have a girlfriend? No. I'm very young. Does it control your finances? Yes. My father and my agent take him, but they always consult me. I like to be aware. It is important for a soccer player.

Eric, his father, left football to focus on his son, a star project that has been fulfilling all the steps planned so far. As a child, Rodrygo got up at five in the morning to go to train Santos, then returned to his city to school and then went to play futsal to Sao Paulo. With 11 years he broke precocity records when signing with Nike. And a little later Madrid began to watch over him. Before flying to Spain, last season, he learned the language, studied movements of European players and modified his position to choose right on the recommendation of the white club. In that area I would have more minutes. Bale's future was not clear.

Who has surprised you in the locker room? Everyone has helped me: Ramos, Modric, Kroos, James Rodríguez, who is almost Brazilian, and, of course, Casemiro and Marcelo, who in person is even nicer than he looks on TV .What differences do you notice with Brazilian football? Physically it is much harder, because it is time to attack and defend throughout the game. In Brazil, when you play at home, the rivals are almost no danger, you don't have to worry about looking back. Here, however, you don't stop going and coming back all the time. I am happy with my work in a different position than I had when I started my career. Those who signed him say that he still has a lot of technical repertoire to exhibit, that he is content, almost shy sometimes in the field. Being the start, I am adapting to how the team plays, but little by little I will let go to show everything. The type of Real Madrid football, what Zidane asks us, control and mastery, suits me very well.

Intimate of Vinicius since they agreed in the inferior selections of Brazil, in Madrid it has strengthened ties. By sharing origins (more humble Vinicius than Rodrygo), comparisons have emerged immediately, leaving the winner for now in many aspects the protagonist of this interview. He defends his friend and remembers something obvious: they just started.

You in the area do not tremble. And neither is Vinicius. It is very good, really. It has helped me a lot to my adaptation, he gave me advice. I don't need to defend him. It is very good and people will be able to see it. Actually, he saw it last year in Madrid. Doing what he did in Madrid with only 18 years is not anything. We are both very young and have a lot to learn. I have another style. Am i colder? As a child it was like that, he scored goals. I always tried to do the right things, be smart outside and inside the area. Pass when you play, haggle how much you play or throw when you play. That asks Zizou now.

Rodrygo is expecting a very intense 2020, with his club and also with the national team. He already debuted in November with the absolute, looking at the Copa America in June and also at the Tokyo Olympics. He would love to be able to come to defend the gold that Brazil won in Maracana in 2016. The decisive penalty was put by Neymar. «He was always my idol, because he was from Santos. From Madrid I liked Cristiano Ronaldo and also Benzema ».

If they beat the semi-final of the Super Cup, they could play against Barça again. What feeling was left in the locker room after the classic? That we could win that game. We did not like what happened with the referee, that angered us, but it is already forgotten. We have shown that we can win anyone.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Real Madrid
  • Gareth Bale
  • Zinedine Zidane
  • Rodrygo Goes
  • Neymar
  • Sergio Ramos
  • Spain Supercup
  • America Cup
  • Cristiano Ronaldo
  • James Rodriguez
  • Luka modric
  • Marcelo
  • sports
  • First division

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